penne with broccoli and pesto

Convenience squared: You toss chopped broccoli into the pot right along with the pasta, and then drain and sauce everything with pesto (which, if it’s store-bought, makes things even easier). If you do go with purchased pesto, you’ll have better results with the fresh kind (sold in plastic tubs in the refrigerator case), rather than the kind that comes in a jar (which is cooked in the packaging process and has much less flavor). Or even better (and much cheaper), make your own (see Chapter 8: Party Snacks). The pesto needs to be at room temperature, so take it out of the refrigerator shortly before you need it. Leftovers? Chill. You’ll have a perfect cold pasta salad for tomorrow’s lunch.

¼ cup olive oil

¾ cup pesto, store-bought or homemade  

Salt for the pasta water

¾ pound penne

1 large head of broccoli (1½ pounds), tough stem ends discarded, and the rest cut on the diagonal into 2-inch spears

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

¾ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Pour the olive oil into a large bowl. Add the pesto and whisk until uniformly blended. Set aside.

2. Put a large pot of cold water to boil over high heat, and add a tablespoon of salt. Place a large colander in the sink. When the water boils, add the penne, keeping the heat high. Cook for close to the amount of time recommended on the package. Taste the pasta, and when it looks like the penne have about a minute or so to go, add the broccoli directly to the boiling water. (The broccoli will cook in seconds.) When the pasta and broccoli are just tender enough to bite into comfortably but not yet mushy, ladle out and save about 1 cup of the pasta water, then dump the remaining water-plus-pasta-plus-broccoli into the colander. Shake to mostly drain (it’s okay to leave some water clinging), and then transfer the pasta-plus-broccoli to the pesto mixture.

3. Mix well, so all of the pasta and broccoli is evenly coated with pesto and olive oil. Toss in the Parmesan as you mix (it will melt, coating everything nicely), and then stir in the salt plus about 6 grinds of black pepper (or to taste). If the pasta looks dry, stir in some of the reserved pasta water, a few tablespoons at a time. Serve the pasta hot, warm, at room temperature, or even cold.

WARMING PASTA INGREDIENTS

When working with ingredients (such as pesto) that need to be at room temperature, but not cooked, an easy way to warm them just enough is to spread them across the bottom of the large serving bowl in which you’ll be mixing them with the pasta and, while the pasta is cooking, set the bowl over the boiling pasta water for a few seconds. Stir just until the bowl gets a bit warm. Make sure your bowl is not ice-cold and is made of something heatproof, like metal or heavy earthenware.

GET CREATIVE

• Use a high-quality olive oil for more flavor.
• Mix in up to 1 cup of fresh ricotta for extra creaminess (let it come to room temperature and give it a stir before adding).
• Toss in a handful or two of lightly toasted pine nuts or chopped toasted walnuts.
• Stir in about ½ cup halved cherry tomatoes when you add the hot pasta.