Description
This Simple Broccoli Pasta Salad is a quick and easy side dish that is light and refreshing.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb penne pasta noodles
- 2 lbs broccoli, chopped into florets
- 4 TBSP grass-fed butter
- 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (about 1.5 tsp minced garlic)
- 4 handfuls of organic spinach
- 1 lemon (zest and juice)
- dash to 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (just a few dashes if you don’t like it spicy)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot.
- While you’re waiting for the water to boil, wash and chop broccoli.
- Once the water is boiling, add the noodles. After the noodles have been cooking for 4-5 minutes, add the broccoli to the pot and cook for another 5 minutes or until noodles and broccoli are fork-tender. The noodles shouldn’t need to cook for more than 12 minutes total.
- While the broccoli and noodles are cooking, melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add minced garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Stir the spinach into the garlic butter over low heat. Zest 1 lemon over the spinach, then squeeze the juice from the lemon. Stir everything together once or twice. Turn the heat off and finish the noodles/broccoli.
- At this point, the noodles and broccoli should be cooked. Dump the noodles and broccoli into a colander to drain excess water then place the drained noodles and broccoli in a large serving bowl.
- Sprinkle salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes over the broccoli and pasta. Dump cheese on top and stir everything together.
- Lastly, pour the sauteed lemon-garlic spinach over the pasta including all the juices from the saucepan. Stir until the ingredients are evenly combined.
- Serve warm (room temperature)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop