This colorful Christmas pasta is perfect for the holidays! It's tender pasta tossed in a homemade romesco sauce, and served with broccoli, mini bocconcini, basil, and almonds. It's an easy recipe that takes only 30 minutes to make!
Ingredients
10ouncespasta, see notes
1tablespoonolive oil
1headbroccoli, cut into florets
2clovesgarlic, minced
200mlcontainer mini bocconcini
Basil and chopped almonds, to serve
Romesco Sauce
1cupwhole almonds
7ouncesroasted red peppers
7ouncesfire-roasted tomatoes, drained
¼ cupsun dried tomatoes, packed in oil
2 tablespoonsflat-leaf parsley
1tablespoonred wine vinegar
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoonsalt
2tablespoonsolive oil
Instructions
Start by making the romesco sauce. Put all the ingredients EXCEPT for the olive oil into your blender and blend until smooth. Then drizzle in the olive oil with the blender running.
1 cup whole almonds, 7 ounces roasted red peppers, 7 ounces fire-roasted tomatoes, ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons olive oil
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water then drain and return the pasta to the pot.
10 ounces pasta
While the pasta is cooking, make the broccoli. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more.
1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 head broccoli, 2 cloves garlic
Pour the romesco sauce over the cooked pasta and toss well. Use the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce - you'll likely use most of it. Mix the broccoli and bocconcini (see notes) into the pasta and serve topped with basil and a few chopped almonds.
200 ml container mini bocconcini, Basil and chopped almonds
Notes
In the pictures, we used garganelli pasta, but any short, tube-shaped pasta will work. Once the broccoli and mini bocconcini get mixed into the sauce, the pasta loses its Christmas-themed colors. We like to set aside some of the broccoli and bocconcini so we add it either to the top of the pasta in a serving dish or once it's been plated.