In Episode 034 we are making Lemon Penne with Roasted Broccoli for dinner. Susie shares this simple recipe for a nice and light pasta dish. Perfect for when you are craving pasta but want something a little lighter than an alfredo or meat sauce. Penne and roasted broccoli are tossed with a lemon garlic butter sauce.
Transcript
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Intro: Welcome to Let’s Make Dinner, your audio library of amazing dinner recipes you can get on the table any night of the week. I’m your host, Susie Weinrich.
Susie Weinrich: Hello, hello everyone. It’s dinnertime. What are you making for dinner? I have a great recipe for you that’s perfect when you are craving pasta, but maybe you don’t want something really heavy like an Alfredo or meat sauce, or you don’t want to take the time to make homemade meatballs. We’re talking about a Lemon Penne with Roasted Broccoli. This recipe was actually created because I would make Ina Garten, Bow Ties, and Broccoli. It’s actually a kid’s recipe in one of her cookbooks. Over the years I have added this, changed this, roasted the broccoli instead of boiling it and it came out to be this Lemon Penne with Oven Roasted Broccoli recipe.
Intro: So there are really just three steps in making this dish. You’re going to cook your pasta, you’re going to oven-roast your broccoli, and you’re going to make a lemon garlic butter sauce. Then you’re going to mix it all together and serve it.
Tips and Tricks: My one tip is to multitask with this recipe. So while the pasta is cooking and while the broccoli is roasting, go ahead and make that lemon butter sauce and it will make the whole recipe come together a lot quicker.
Lemon Penne with Broccoli Recipe: This is pretty much a straightforward recipe, so I don’t have a lot of tips to share with this recipe. So we’re just going to go ahead and get started. First, you want to go ahead and get your oven preheated to 400 degrees. You want to get some water boiling to cook your pasta. We use half a pound of penne pasta, just cooked al dente per the package instructions, and then drain that and set that aside until we’re ready to assemble.
Now for the roasted broccoli, you’ll need about three cups of broccoli florets that are cut into really bite-sized pieces because it’s going to be mixed with that penne pasta. So your best bet is to cut the florets to a similar size as the penne. Once your oven is preheated, you’re going to place the broccoli florets on a sheet pan that’s lined with foil or parchment paper, drizzle with a generous couple tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with some kosher salt and then toss it all together with clean hands or you can use a spatula or forks. You’re going to roast that in the oven for about 10 minutes. If you like your broccoli a little bit more roasty, then roasted it a little bit longer. This part is totally up to your preference. For the last, about a minute and a half to two minutes, you’re going to add two tablespoons of pine nuts. If you’ve never used pine nuts, they can be just a little bit expensive. They’re more expensive than walnuts or cashews. They’re delicious. They actually have a meaty flavor to them. I always compare them once they’re roasted, to bacon. They have a salty bacon flavor. They’re perfect in this recipe. So go ahead and add them onto that sheet pan and just roast them for about an additional one and a half to two minutes. Take that out of the oven and set that aside.
Now we’re going to make the lemon garlic butter sauce. So in a small saucepan that you’re going to put over low heat, you want to add two tablespoons of butter, and two tablespoons of olive oil, and you can use extra virgin olive oil or regular olive oil will work here. Once the butter is melted, you’re going to add one tablespoon of lemon zest. That’s usually about the zest from one full, medium size lemon and two plump garlic cloves that have been thinly sliced. You’re going to cook that for about two to three minutes and just make sure that the garlic does not brown or burn. Once garlic goes to that burning phase, where it starts to turn really dark brown, it will get a little bit bitter, so you just want to soften it up and let it infuse its flavor into that butter sauce.
Pull that off of the heat, and then you’re going to pour in three tablespoons of lemon juice and half a teaspoon of kosher salt. Stir that all together and now it’s time to assemble everything.
In a really large bowl, you’ll want to add the pasta, the pine nuts, and the broccoli, and then drizzle that lemon garlic butter sauce all over the pasta. Then toss to coat everything with that lemon garlic butter.
When you serve this, you can absolutely grate some fresh Parmesan cheese over top, but it is not necessary. It is delicious as is. We kind of think of this as a complete meal, a vegetarian meal, and we don’t usually add any type of protein. Because you have your pasta, you’ve got the Pine nuts in there, and you have a veggie.
You of course could add some garlic bread or breadsticks on the side, or if you wanted to add a protein, a grilled chicken would be perfect here. If you’re feeding kids, add some chicken nuggets.
That’s it for the super simple recipe. I will link all of the recipes that I talked about in this episode right in the show notes for you so you can make this for dinner when you’re ready.
If you’re enjoying these episodes of Let’s Make Dinner, I would love to have you rate and review the show in your preferred podcast player which will just help other people like you find this show.
Outro: Until next time, I hope this episode of Let’s Make Dinner, makes your dinner time a little easier.
Tips Shared
It is best to cut your broccoli florets to the same size or smaller than the penne.
Multitask when you make this recipe, it will make dinner prep a lot faster! While the pasta boils and the broccoli roasts in the oven go ahead and make the lemon butter sauce.
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