Broccoli Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta ala CPK

One of the many qualities a domestic goddess must posses is the ability to (efficiently) manage the household food stock. There's been a little voice inside my head that's been nagging me about the leftover linguini and the head of broccoli that's been sitting in the refrigerator for a couple of days. So today I finally decided it was time to acknowledge the little voice. Pasta and broccoli ... first thing that came to my mind was Broccoli Sun-Dried Tomato Fusilli from California Pizza Kitchen. I would usually order it with goat cheese but unfortunately goat cheese is not something I stock up on so instead I prepared it with bacon for additional flavor and texture.

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 slice bacon
a handful of broccoli florets
2-3 pcs of sundried tomatoes (chopped to smaller pieces)
parmesan cheese
bowl of cooked pasta

Please note that I just eyeballed the measurements for the ingredients.

Cook pasta. Blanch the broccoli. You can blanch the broccoli in the same water you used for cooking the pasta.

Cook the bacon in low fire to render all the unwanted fat. You'll be surprised at how much fat you'll get from 1 strip of bacon. Chop bacon into smaller pieces when cooked.

In a separate pan (you can also use the same pan that you cooked in bacon in just make sure you take out all the bacon grease), cook garlic in olive oil over low heat. Better to take it slow than to burn the garlic. Once the garlic starts to change color, add the broccoli, sundried tomato, bacon and pasta. Saute until all the ingredients are coated with the garlic oil. Add as much parmesan cheese as you want. Season with salt and pepper if you wish.



Not to brag or anything, but this dish could definitely win me a quickfire challenge. It was quick, easy and definitely very tasty.