Saturday 13 April 2013

Pasta with Gorgonzola, walnuts and broccoli

Regular readers will know that this year Jane and I are trying hard to eat more non-meat meals. Every week we eat non-meat meals at least once, often twice or three times. This is one of my contributions.


My Purple Sprouting Broccoli (PSB) has been late developing this year, presumably because of the very severe weather in February and March. One of my six plants matured very early (before the really cold weather arrived) but the others have been languishing - growing very slowly. I keep thinking that they are just about ready, but then I say to myself  "If I wait just a little longer they will give me a bigger crop."


Yesterday I had a close look at the plants again and I saw that one of the "Rudolph" ones was beginning to go very loose and straggly and the flower buds were beginning to open. It was definitely a case of use it or lose it. If I were to leave it any longer the spears would go tough and stringy. All three of my Rudolph PSB plants have been disappointingly thin this year, and completely outclassed by the other variety "Red Arrow". I have grown Rudolph several times before and liked it, especially since it usually matures very early in the year, but I now have some reservations about growing it again. I'll try a different variety this year.

Anyway, I cut the central heads of the two remaining Rudloph plants and this produced just the right quantity for the meal I wanted to cook:


My recipe is incredibly easy - hardly more than an "assembly job": cook some pasta; stir into it some Gorgonzola cheese and let it melt; add some chopped toasted walnuts; add some lightly-cooked PSB; season with black pepper; serve! [A tip though: if you want a rather thinner sauce, add a little cream.]

Here's the cheese. I used Gorgonzola, because it melts well without going stringy, but naturally enough you could use whatever cheese you like.


Here's the toasted walnuts. I drizzled them in a little nut oil and toasted them in the oven for a few minutes to intensify the flavour.


Here's the PSB. In order to incorporate it better into the pasta I chopped it into small florets, discarding the thicker bits of stem:


PSB is very delicate and can break up easily during cooking if you are not careful, so I cooked mine separately and added it to the rest of the dish at the last minute. I think it looks more attractive this way too. Cut this small it only needs about two minutes' cooking time, so be careful not to overdo it.


My pasta dish was served with a crisp green lettuce-and-endive salad, and a nice bottle of Sicilian red wine.


In terms of Effort-to-Results ratio this dish scored really well. The melted Gorgonzola gave it a beautiful savoury taste and an appealing sticky texture, complemented nicely by the crunchiness of the toasted Walnuts. It is a well-balanced dish too, containing carbohydrate, protein and vegetables. Really good for you as well, since Walnuts and Broccoli are both considered to be super-foods. We loved it, and it was just so easy to do!

17 comments:

  1. Looks like another broccoli free year courtesy of the wood pigeons being abnormally greedy

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  2. I'm tempted to grow broccoli after seeing your pictures. Our cooler months might be ideal. Despite being an effortless dish, as you say so, the photos looks wonderful.

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  3. I love broccoli. I've never tried the purple sprouting type though. We can't grow it over the winter here and it just takes up too much space for too long. But broccoli and cheese is a favorite combination. I'm not into the moldy cheeses though. I don't get along with them.

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  4. Quick and satisfying. Looks really good.

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  5. I've never toasted walnuts yet! I must try to do that some day.

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  6. Looks delicious, Mark. I still have broccoli in my garden from my winter crop. Everyday I am picking a double handful, so I have stocked the freezer. I will have to give this recipe a try before it gets tough.

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  7. Looks really good!
    Hope you are having a wonderful week-end!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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  8. That does look lovely Mark though I would have to change the choice of cheese for my taste. Have everything in stock though so maybe.

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  9. That looks yummy Mark, I'm going to give it a go. I love Gorgon, and Blue too. Meatless - even a few days a week - is the way to go.

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  10. Mmm, this is one of my favourite dishes. We're not conviction vegetarians, but our ratio of meat to meat-free meals is in the order of 2 meat/fish to 5 meat-free. It's much cheaper!

    Rudolph has been similarly disappointing here too - not a sign of florets although the plants are strong.

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  11. This is one recipe I am saving for when I have my first broccoli pick and combine it with a local Australian blue cheese - more easily sourced than the wonderful Gorgonzola. My mouth is watering.

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  12. Looks yummy!! You had me at gorgonzola.... =0)

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  13. Oh that looks good! I'm off pasta these days, but I can see plowing through a bowlful of broccoli with gorgonzola and walnut sauce.

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  14. Sweet! Nice harvest, nice dish.

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  15. That looks so yummy! And the purple broccoli is beautiful! I am trying to grow purple peacock, but a bunny came through and ate most of them the other day! Hopefully I can get something!

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  16. Yum! That looks absolutely delicious. I know you were disappointed in the purple broccoli production but what you did get was very nice looking.

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