Recipe Review: Rigatoni with Broccoli Pesto

This next vegetarian meal is Rigatoni with Broccoli Pesto. It serves two and was written by Janine Ratcliffe, the Food Director of Olive Magazine. 

Ingredients:

150g rigatoni

1 head of broccoli

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove sliced garlic

1 tablespoon pine nuts

50g finely grated Parmesan

Start by boiling your broccoli for about two minutes. The recipe doesn’t clarify whether to start with boiling your broccoli or pasta, but in my experience boiling the broccoli first works best. After the broccoli has boiled, drain and pulse in a food processor. 

Once your broccoli has been chopped, set it aside and begin boiling your pasta. About two minutes before the pasta is finished boiling, heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a separate pan with your garlic and pine nuts. Once the oil has heated, add your broccoli. Drain the pasta, then add it into the pan of oil and toss. Serve with Parmesan or another garnish or your choice. 

My favorite part about this recipe was that it truly was simple. It genuinely took me under 20 minutes to make and I couldn’t have messed it up if I tried. I already had most of the ingredients in my house, and the ones I didn’t were under $10. This meal is super accessible and has lots of room for personalization. Since you don’t use the broccoli stalks, you can also make veggie stock or compost them. Either option is a fun challenge and a great way to be more sustainable at home and save some money. That being said, I had some issues with this recipe. 

To be completely transparent, I made a few changes going in. I used a teaspoon of minced garlic rather than chopping my own clove, and I opted not to add pine nuts. I also think I under measured my pasta so my pesto to noodle ratio was off. However, the pasta was unbearably bland. I had to heavily salt it and add a good amount of cheese to get any flavor at all. 

Even with my mismeasurement of the noodles, the amount of pesto was ridiculous. I could have doubled the original 150g and still had enough. It was so much that it made the pasta hard to eat. It also wasn’t really a pesto, just ground up broccoli and oil. 

This recipe has really good potential, but I think it’s just underdeveloped. I’m going to make it again, but not without workshopping it to add more seasonings, fix the ratios, and change the awful broccoli “pesto.”