Big Green Easy – Killer Pasta in 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 box spaghetti or linguine *
• 2-3 heads of broccoli (with stems)
• 1 or 2 small zucchinis
• 3-4 giant hands full of baby spinach
• 1 cup sun dried tomatoes (I use non-oil packed)
• Olive Oil
• S&P to taste
• 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes

Method

• Start by roughly chopping the sun dried tomatoes and finely chopping the basil.  Place them in a large mixing bowl with the red pepper flakes, a pinch of salt, and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  Mix together and set aside. 
• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta.
• While you’re waiting for the water to boil (don’t watch!) clean and chop the broccoli** and shave the zucchini into thin strips with a vegetable peeler.  Keep them separate; the only thing that’s going to get cooked is the broccoli.  You can put the zucchini and the spinach on top of the oil/tomato/basil mixture.
• Cook the pasta according to package directions, and add the broccoli to the water for the LAST MINUTE S before you drain it.  You just want to blanch it, not cook the crap out of it.
• Drain the pasta and broccoli, giving it a light rinse to slow the cooking (or cool it completely if you’re not going to serve it for a while).
• Mix the hot broccoli/pasta combo with the room temperature everything else mixture.  The heat of the pasta will wilt the spinach and zucchini just enough. 
• Add more olive oil, salt and pepper to lube it up and suit your taste.  Enjoy!

If you’re really feeling fancy, sprinkle some Hazelnut Parmesan Cheeze on top.

*Wanna up the nutritional content of this dish? I know you do.  Sub in whole grain pasta or bean-based pasta for half of your noodles.

** If you’re new to broccoli stems, just cut off the gnarly bottom part, peel off the tough outer layer, and slice or dice up the tender inside.  It’s great in salads, pastas, etc, and it’s a super shame to throw it away.  Don’t do it!