Gez Lemon's Broccoli pesto pasta

The fourth in a series of posts that bring together the two sides of my blog: Food and technology. I’ve asked the great and the good from the web standards community to share their favourite recipes. This tempting vegetarian recipe is from Gez Lemon.

Information

  • Makes: 2 helpings
  • Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Measurement converter

  • 200g wholewheat pasta
  • 125g broccoli, (cut into florets)
  • 1 handful chick peas
  • 1 handful soya beans
  • 1 garlic clove, (peeled)
  • 1 fresh chilli
  • 1 large bunch spinach (optional)
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 1.5 tbsp walnuts, (broken into pieces)
  • 1tbsp oil
  • 1.5tbsp cheese, (grated)

Method

  1. Boil pasta according to packet instructions.
  2. Meanwhile, blend together the chick peas, soya beans, garlic, chilli, spinach (if included), lemon zest and juice, and oil. The mixture should be the texture of runny porridge. If it’s too thick, add a little water to thin it out.
  3. Steam the broccoli for 4 minutes, then when it’s cooked slice it into smaller pieces.
  4. Mix the blended ingredients into the broccoli to make the pesto, then add to the pasta along with the cheese, walnuts and seasoning.

Gez's notes

It was tough getting it down to one, but in the end I decided on Broccoli Pesto Pasta. I discovered it in BBC Good Food Vegetarian Christmas 2007 magazine, and thought it would be a good one to try. The original recipe was quite simple and tasty, but over the years I’ve changed things so that it hardly resembles the original.

I particularly like this recipe as it’s very healthy, lemony, and despite having had it regularly for the last 4 years, I still absolutely love it.

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