Pesto-Broccoli-Salad

First Advent: Yesterdayafternoon I made a quick Advent wreath, I know not really special or even great, but I had no time preparing one and therefore mine's just a plate with some stars, glammer and candles. If I would have used greens the cats probably would play with it - and that's not what I wanted.

As most sundays I do a lot of work in the kitchen. Cooking, preparing dips, spread, sauce and so on. This day I first prepared my lunch: a healthy one. As I already precooked Pasta on hand and some vegetables to be done and my vegan pesto.

Damm this salad was good. It's been a while since I ate Pesto....and I realized that I really missed the taste of herbs and so on.

The good thing about this dish? It could be eaten hot and cold and at the low temperature I ate it of couse hot ;)

Enjoy this dish as well!

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Pesto-Broccoli-Salad

 

Serves: 8 

 

Ingredients:

2 cups penne pasta, uncooked

6 cups broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces

1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

½ cup sliced black olives, drained

½ cup red onion, chopped

1 cup vegan pesto sauce

Pesto-Sauce:

2 cups, washed, loosely packed stemmed fresh herbs- basil, cilantro, parsley

1/2 cup shelled pecans , walnuts or pine nuts (I used pine nuts)

1-2 cloves fresh garlic

1/4 to 1/2 cup good tasting extra virgin olive oil, as needed

Sea salt, to taste

 

Direction: Pesto

Combine the fresh herbs, nuts, and garlic in a food processor and process the mixture until it turns into a coarse meal.

Slowly add extra virgin olive oil in a steady drizzle as you pulse the processor on and off. Process until it becomes a smooth, light paste. Add enough olive oil to keep it moist and spreadable.

Season with sea salt, to taste.

Cover and store chilled for at least an hour to saturate the flavors. I like to pour a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil over the top to help keep it bright green.

Makes roughly a rounded cup.

Direction: Broccoli, Pasta

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and reserve the water to blanch the broccoli. Place the drained pasta in a large bowl and set aside.

 

Bring the pasta water back to a boil, then add the broccoli. Boil broccoli for 2 minutes, then place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain the broccoli and add to the pasta.

 

Add the remaining ingredients to the pasta and broccoli and gently fold to combine the ingredients.

 

Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours prior to serving so that the flavors can combine.

 

Serve cold or at room temperature.