A BIT OFF TOPIC

I’m obsessed with food content on Insta and TikTok, especially when you see someone cook or bake something from scratch. But in reality, no one has time for that. Personally, I’m too busy procrastinating and overthinking. 💁🏻‍♀️

Warning – this is NOT an official recipe blog. If I’m not following an existing recipe, I’m winging it, and that’s exactly what happened here.

Anyway, I bought a jar of pesto from the shops to use in my focaccia sandwiches, but I had a lot left over. That usually means it’ll get forgotten in the fridge and by the time I open it again, it will have some kind of a mouldy ecosystem inside. 🤢 So, I decided to use it in a vegetarian pasta for dinner.

FYI – I was too busy cooking and filming videos, so I don’t have photos for my steps. 😅 Still trying to get the hang of pumping out content, but I’ll remember next time…

Cooking the pasta

Simple pasta dishes like this don’t need much prepping beforehand, and based on how long it takes my spaghetti and eggs to cook – the process works out really well.

Step 1: Boil water for pasta and eggs

Start boiling water in two separate saucepans. Once the water is boiling…

• Drop your eggs into one saucepan and set one timer to 7 minutes if you want gooey, runny yolks like mine. Otherwise, set to 9-10 minutes for hard-boiled eggs.
• Drop your pasta in the other saucepan and whatever the recommended cooking time is, shave off 2 minutes. E.g. My spaghetti was supposed to cook in 10 minutes, so I set my timer to to 7-8 minutes.

Step 2: Wash and cut broccolini

I cut my broccolini into about 1.5-inch pieces, so they’re easier to eat with the pasta, but you can make yours bigger or smaller. My broccolini stems were super skinny, but if you buy the usual ones with thicker stems, you might want to half them so they cook faster. 😊

Step 3: Grate parmesan cheese

Grate a block of parmesan cheese until you have about 1/2 cup to add into your pasta, and then some more for later to sprinkle on top. If you watch my video, you’ll probably see I was a bit more on the generous side for the cheese.

Step 4: Cook broccolini pieces

In a large pan, add olive oil and broccolini piece, toss them around with some salt and pepper. They’re going to be hard still at this point.

Scoop a small amount of pasta water and add that to your pan, then cover immediately so your broccolini can sizzle and steam cook for a bit to soften.

After 3-5 minutes, get a fork and check if you can easily pierce the broccolini. If you can, then add about 3 generous teaspoons of pesto paste and mix it all together.

Step 5: Transfer eggs

Once your egg timer has gone off, rinse them in cold water and leave them in a bowl of cold, icy water. If you have time, you can peel them already. Otherwise, you can come back to them after.

Step 6: Drain pasta

The pasta timer should also be done. The first thing I do is fill up a small bowl of pasta water (in case I need some for the sauce) and then remove about 95% of the water by draining the pasta over the sink. If you drain the entire thing and you’re not ready to transfer your pasta, it’ll dry up and get clumpy.

Step 7: Add pasta to sauce

Once you’re happy with how your pesto sauce is tasting, use tons to add your pasta to the sauce. If you’re using other kinds of pasta, you can drain the remaining water to the sink and pour the pasta into the pan.

Add a splash of pasta water and mix everything.

Step 8: Add parmesan

Now you can add the 1/2 cup of grated parmesan to the pasta and combine until everything is mixed together.

You can always add a little more pasta water if it gets a little dry.

Turn off the heat and cover the pan.

Step 9: Serve it up

I like to use medium bowls over plates for pasta dishes like this. Top off the pasta with your egg halves, and sprinkle some more parmesan on top.

Let me know what your go-to quick pasta dish is at home! 😊