Directions
I’m whooped.
This getting ready to move thing is exhausting. Actually, it’s not the getting ready to move that’s tiring me out, it’s more the getting the house ready to sell. I feel like I’ve been packing, hauling, pitching, cleaning, buffing, and shining for months…and my house wasn’t that messy to begin with. I’m to the point where having the house on the market will actually be a welcome relief, because then all I’ll have to do is tidy it up each day. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
So, there have been many days lately where dinner time rolls around and I’m wiped out and don’t feel like doing anything but serving up bowls of cereal to my hungry family. This does not bode well for a food blogger, a food blogger’s blog, or a food blogger’s family, so instead, I’m trying to find simple, but tasty, meals to get us through those crazy days.
This is one of those meals. It’s super quick and easy to throw together, and it’s delicious.
First, I brought a big pot of water to a boil. When it was bubbling steadily, I stirred in some salt and then added about six cups of fresh broccoli florets. After about four minutes, I removed the broccoli from the water with a slotted spoon and set it all aside.
The water kept boiling on the stove and I added my bow tie pasta to the water.
While the broccoli and pasta were boiling, Emily helped me out by toasting up some pine nuts on the stove. She is getting so big, and wants to help me in the kitchen all the time now. She’s becoming quite the cook herself, and is proud to have mastered the art of the scrambled egg. She put those egg pushing skills to work again with the pine nuts.
As the things on the stove top were bustling, I grabbed a lemon and a couple of cloves of garlic. I minced up the garlic, and zested and juiced the lemon.
Emily finished up the pine nuts, and the nuts went into a bowl. I added some butter and a bit of olive oil to the pan she’d used and, over low heat, sautéed my garlic and the lemon zest for a minute or so, until it was nice and fragrant, but before the garlic started to brown.
I took the mixture off the heat and stirred in the lemon juice, some salt, and pepper.
By this time, the pasta was done, so I drained it and then tossed it with the broccoli. Then, I poured the lemon-garlic-butter sauce over the pasta mixture, tossed it together, and then added the toasted pine nuts and some shredded parmesan cheese.
Done!
Dinner was a snap, and it was really, really tasty. Plus, it made me feel like I’d done a little more for my family than just throw a bowl of Lucky Charms at them, and it didn’t take much more time than that at all!
BROCCOLI AND BOW TIES
Adapted from Ina Garten
- 6-8 cups fresh broccoli florets
- 3/4 lb. bow tie (farfalle) pasta
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lemon, zested
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Over low heat on the stove top, toast the pine nuts in a small skillet. Stir often, until the pine nuts start to brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil on the stove. Add the broccoli florets and cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove the broccoli from the water with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add the bow tie pasta to the boiling water and cook, according to the package.
- In a small skillet, melt the butter and the olive oil together over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and the lemon zest and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice, 2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.
- Drain the pasta and toss with the broccoli.
- Pour the butter-garlic sauce over the pasta and broccoli and toss well to combine.
- Sprinkle the pine nuts and Parmesan over the dish and serve.
- ENJOY!
