Quick and Easy Broccoli Pasta Salad
Serving size: 4
Add your favorite flavors to this one pot dish.
This is basically a one-pot dish that can be made in 15 minutes and accessorized to meet your needs. Love salami? Add it! Prefer garbanzo beans? Sure, sounds delish! Kalamata olives? Yes, please! Add the flavor bombs that tip your family’s response from mediocre to, “Yum!”
A #FWALtribe Menu Plan mom asked for lunch inspiration for her kiddo – he loves broccoli and can’t warm something up at school, so pasta salad seemed like a great fit. There’s trick in the directions that I learned from Heidi Swanson (101 Cookbooks) and I have to call it out loudly for all to learn: About 3 minutes before the pasta is done, add chopped broccoli to the boiling pasta water, then strain everything at once. Pasta and veg are cooked in one quick swoop! This method works with carrots, peas, cauliflower – just think about how long something will take to cook and adjust the timing of when you add it to the pasta water.
Foodie note: Pasta is typically sold in a 1lb. box or bag, so you’ll use have a box for this recipe.
Ingredients
1 head of broccoli
½ lb of pasta (your choice, I used macaroni)
Salt
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
4 oz mozzarella, cubed
2 oz salami, cubed (optional)
Directions
To a medium sized pot, add water and a hearty pinch of salt. Bring to a boil.
While you’re waiting for the water to boil, wash broccoli and trim into 2” sized pieces.
Read the cook time on the pasta, the macaroni I used cooked for ~6 minutes. Add pasta to boiling water, taste ~3 minutes before it’s done, it should be pretty al’dente. Add broccoli and cook the remaining time. Strain and return to the pasta pot.
Add red wine vinegar, olive oil and oregano, toss the pasta and broccoli in the dressing. Add cheese and salami (if using). Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.
