Broccoli Pesto - Go Ahead, Have Another Spoonful...

This is a wonderful lightened up pesto recipe that I came across. I found it in the health and fitness section of the NY Times. I used this pesto as a sauce over roasted spaghetti squash and added grilled chicken and artichoke hearts for an absolutely delicious and quick weeknight meal. This pesto is also thick enough to use as a dip for carrots, or pita chips. If you plan on using this pesto as a sauce over pasta then use some of the pasta water to thin it out a bit. I did not need to add water when I used it as a sauce because spaghetti squash has a lot of water in it already.

Here is the recipe, give it a try, I promise you wont miss your old fatty pesto recipe one bit!

Broccoli Pesto

1/2 pound broccoli florets

2 garlic cloves, peeled, green shoots removed

1 cup basil leaves, tightly packed

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 1/2 to 2 ounces (1/3 to 1/2 cup) freshly grated Parmesan, or a mixture of pecorino Romano and Parmesan, to taste

1. Steam the broccoli for 6 minutes, until very tender but still bright. Remove from the heat, rinse and drain on paper towels.

2. Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop in the garlic. When the garlic is minced and adhering to the sides of the bowl, stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the broccoli and the basil to the machine and turn on. When contents are finely chopped, stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn on the machine again and drizzle in the olive oil. Purée until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste and the grated cheese, and process until well blended.

3. Transfer to a bowl and serve as a dip, spread or sauce with pasta. If serving with pasta, this amount will be plenty for a pound of pasta. Thin out with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water before tossing with the pasta.

Yield: 1 1/4 cups

Advance preparation: You can make this a day ahead, but the garlic will become more pungent. The pesto will retain its nice color.

Nutritional information per 1 tablespoon: 46 calories; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 milligrams cholesterol; 1 gram carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 36 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 1 gram protein

Recipe taken from the following webpage: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/health/nutrition/18recipehealth.html?_r=2&smid=tw-nytimeshealth&seid=auto