Three cooks, one recipe, three variations

Last evening, Elissa, Sarah and I did something we have never tried before.  We all cooked the exact same recipe in our individual kitchens and then compared our results and impressions.  Selecting the same recipe was a coincidence but it was fun.  Sarah's husband liked the generous portions and Elissa's one-year old thought it tasted great.  I generally don't serve the grill master meatless meals for dinner but even he didn't seem to mind.  (Cleaned up his plate) As you might expect, we each improvised a little depending on our kitchen and I'll let you in on all that too.  Here is the basic recipe:

Big Fusilli Bowl

12 oz. Whole-grain fusilli or rotini pasta

12 oz. fresh broccoli florets

1pint grape tomatoes

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

1 1/2 tablespoons Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1/2 cup (2oz.) diced, part-skim mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

1 1/2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 450.  Toss tomatoes with garlic, oil and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a bowl.  Spread mixture on a jelly roll pan  and roast for about 8 minutes or until the tomatoes wrinkle and begin the burst.  Stir the mixture and return to oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, when three minutes remain, add the broccoli to the boiling water.  When the pasta is finished, retain 1/2 cup pasta water and then drain the pasta, broccoli  mixture. Return the pasta to the sauce pan and add the tomato mixture.  Pour the 1/2 cup pasta water to the jelly roll pan and scrape the browned bits up and then add the liquid to the pasta mixture. Add the Romano cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper.

Sprinkle with mozzarella, basil and pine nuts.

 

The casserole  pictures is Elissa's.  She used veggie rotini pasta so hers was more colorful than the casserole that Sarah or I made since we both used whole wheat pasta, again rotini which tends be be an unattractive shade of brown.  I purchased name- brand pasta because it came in a 12 oz box, but Sarah used the generic version which was in a 13.5 oz box so her dish was slightly larger.

I didn't have block mozzarella cheese so used grated so it melted in and I didn't get the festive results that Elissa's dish had. Sarah used basil in a tube and Parmesan Romano instead of Pecorino Romano Romano cheese.  

My casserole had to sit in the warming drawer so I added a 6.5 oz V-8 juice. I also used frozen broccoli since I already had it and minced garlic instead of smashed.

If I needed to have a vegetarian dish for a potluck, I would definitely consider making this because it has such a wide appeal.  The caveat is that if you actually purchase pine nuts, fresh basil and Pecorino Romano cheese for the expressed purpose of preparing this recipe, meat would probably be cheaper.

Also, if you aren't watching your weight, or even if you are, this would be a good side dish with roast beef.