Friday, March 2, 2012

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower Pasta

Do you ever have one of those days where you just have no idea what to have for dinner? Nothing's defrosted, the leftovers just aren't speaking to you and you are wondering just what in the world you are going to eat come 6:00 (or whatever time dinner time is in your house...).

Tonight was one of those nights in our house.

Despite trying to meal plan, there are still random days, on those weeks where the plan wasn't well fleshed out, where I still have no idea what we're going to eat.

Then I remembered the broccoli and cauliflower I'd bought at the produce stand this week. Veggies as the main meal? You betcha.

I cleaned and cut the broccoli and cauliflower, roughly chopped a (rather large...) onion, peeled and crushed six cloves of garlic and then spread everything out on a foil-lined baking sheet. Then I added a drained can of chickpeas for good measure.



A drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkling of salt, then the whole pan went into a 400 degree oven.

A short while later, here's how it looked.


I had to stop myself from eating this right out of the pan. So how was this dinner? Some pasta, some grated cheese and voila:


Not too shabby for a last minute dinner call!


Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower Pasta

1 head of broccoli
1 head of cauliflower
1 large onion
6 cloves of garlic
1 15-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (eyeball it, really, as you drizzle)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon coarse salt (I always go light on salt)
1 box (12 ounces, though most are 16 ounces... mine was just a small one...) pasta, your choice of shape
Grated sharp cheddar cheese, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a large cookie sheet with foil.
Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into large florets.
Roughly chop the onion.
Peel and crush (with the side of your knife) the garlic.
Scatter the prepared vegetables on the prepared pan.
Drain the chickpeas and scatter them over the other vegetables.
Drizzle the pan with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Put pan in the preheated oven. Roast for 30-40 minutes, tossing gently (I used tongs) ever ten minutes. Roast time will vary depending on how loaded your pan was. Mine was pretty full, so it took about 35 minutes.
While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the pasta per the package directions.
To serve, spoon pasta onto plate and top with roasted vegetables. Sprinkle with grated cheddar to taste.
Enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. yum!
    I made roasted chickpeas the other day for the first time and it was love at first bite.
    I love this recipe, I think I have to update my shopping list :)

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  2. Delicious!!!! Great and healthy dinner!

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  3. I LOVE broccoli and cauliflower! What a delicious idea to add cheddar to it..an upscale Mac 'N Cheese!

    On another note..Thanks so much for participating in BBD #47, Shelley! The Round-Up is up. You can see it at

    http://lisamichele.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/bread-baking-day-47-round-up-bread-with-chocolate/

    ReplyDelete