Broccoli and Orecchiette with Kefir and Peas
Prep Time
30 minutes
Prep Notes
This recipe has one of my favorite dressings with a subtle pea-infused, garlicy kefir sauce. The fiber in peas feeds healthy gut bacteria and can help prevent bad bacteria grwoth, which can reduce the risk o inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome and colon cancer. With peas and broccoli this recipe packs a ton of proteins and nutritious goodness. Use this salad as a stand-alone meal or as a side to a lean meat protein.
Cooking Time
Approx 5 minutes
Yields
4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
Salad
- 1pkg (500g) orecchiette pasta
- 2 broccoli heads, cut into bite-size florets
- 1 1/3 cups (320g) frozen, organic peas - thawed
- 1/2 cup basil leaves, roughly torn
- 1Tbl pine nuts or slivered almonds, toasted
- 1/2tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
- Real salt and black pepper to taste
Kefir and Pea Dressing
- 2 cups Homemade Kefir or Plain Greek yogurt if you want it thicker
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 Tbl extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup frozen peas, thawed
- Real salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
Dressing
- In a food processor, add the Kefir, garlic, olive oil, thawed peas and two big pinches of salt and black pepper.
- Blitz up until you get a smooth, pale green sauce.
- Taste and adjust as needed.
The Salad
- Cook the pasta in plenty of salted or olive oil water until al dente.
- Drain and refresh under cold running water.
- In a vegetable steamer, cook the broccoli florets for about 3 minutes, or until just tender.
- Just before the broccoli is ready, add the peas to the pot and cook for 30 seconds just to warm the peas through. Both broccoli and peas should be a bright green.
- Refresh broccoli and peas under cold running water.
- Put the broccoli, peas, basil and pasta together in a large bowl and toss gently until all ingredients are mixed evenly.
- Then begin adding a little of the dressing at a time, and gently toss the salad again to see if enough as been added.
- To serve: Spoon portion onto a plate and scatter over the pine nuts and if using, the dried chilli flakes.
Notes
This salad makes a wonderful summer meal. I also like to add lightly steamed fresh green beans from the garden. Chop or snap them into small pieces and add them to the salad before adding dressing.
You may also want to put the dressing in a container on the side so you can serve it later in the week several more times.
Credit
Community Cookbook by Hetty McKinnon