Gemma Before we had children pasta was something we had occasionally. I don’t know why because it’s such an easy meal for a busy working couple but looking back I think we threw money at food and not time. Now it’s a different story, less money coming in, more money going out, time is precious and so we need more affordable and timesaving ways to feed our family. A good cheesy pasta sauce can be the key to a happy dinner.
Give them what they love
Our eldest loves pasta and it’s always a guarantee that the children will wolf a pasta dish down. But I hate eating the same food on a short cycle so I have a couple of really good pasta sauces up my sleeve. Family Feed’s Olive, Chilli and Tomato Pasta Sauce is a regular in our house and so is this Cheesy Broccoli & Spinach Pasta Sauce.
I tend to make this for the children and freeze it in batches so that we have quick wins on busy days. Once a week we eat as a couple when the children are in bed – this is the perfect meal for those nights. Me and Jim love it too and occasionally we will eat it together as a family.
Veg swap
The brilliant thing about this pasta sauce is that you can add whatever veg you like. If you don’t like aubergine, remove or replace it with courgette. If you have a cauliflower knocking about – stick that in with the broccoli. It’s a nice way to use up those last few carrots, spinach that’s not quite fresh enough for a salad and celery that looks a bit sad. Pasta sauces are very forgiving things.
The power of cheese
We encourage our children to explore flavours and have always given them lots of veg without concealing it in a cheesy pasta sauce. But we know that there are days when a bit of cheese makes life a lot easier. And so this dish is a good way of satisfying the children with the comforting joy of a cheese sauce and giving us a sense that they have had a balanced meal. Speaking of balance. This recipe has a fair bit of cheese in it. But as you will see at the end of the video, it doesn’t take much sauce to coat the pasta so this sauce will easily do 8 portions for the children… That’s a month worth of date nights in the bag.
Cheesy Broccoli & Spinach Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 carrot finely sliced
- 1 stick of celery finely sliced
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 1 aubergine grated
- 3 cloves of garlic crushed
- 1 whole broccoli cut from the steam
- 150 g of cheddar cheese grated
- 35 g of Parmesan grated
- 150 g of spinach chopped finely
- 4-6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3-4 tablespoons flour
- 1 knob of butter
- 400 ml milk
- 200 ml broccoli water taken from the pan while broccoli is boiling
Instructions
Prep your ingredients
- Check out our video showing you how we prep everything before we cook. This makes the whole process much easier and the results always taste better!
- In a large none stick pan add your olive oil and butter and melt on a medium heat
- Gently fry your carrots, celery and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes or until soft.
- Put a pan of cold water with the broccoli on the stove and boil. You want to cook the broccoli Al dente. You do not want soggy broccoli it just needs to be soft enough to chop but firm enough to hold its shape. As soon as your broccoli is done drain and set aside.
- Add your grated aubergine stir well and allowed to fry gently for another 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the spinach stir and allowed to cook until all the moisture from the spinach has evaporated. You don’t want your pan to be dry it should be nicely lubricated with olive oil. If it is dry add a drizzle of oil. I used roughly 6 tablespoons total. You may need a little more or less depending.
- Just before you drain your broccoli remove 200 ml of the water from the broccoli pan and set aside.
- In the main pan we are going to make a roux sauce. Add some more olive oil if required to lubricate the veg. Then add 3-4 tablespoons of flour add 2 at a time and stir to incorporate between.
- A roux is equal parts fat to flour however it’s not as clean cut in this dish because we have the other ingredients in the pan that require oil for frying. Plus I was always taught to make a roux as a child by eye so I find it hard to be clinical here.I have tried to be as accurate as possible in this recipe and I know Mrs Hardy (my highschool food technology teacher) would be flipping her nut if she read this… we came to a disagreement over roux sauce a few times in class.Basically you want to achieve a consistency that binds together all your oil should be absorbed by the flour. The roux should not be dry or crumbly. If you add too much flour you can rescue it with a touch more olive oil and visaversa do this before moving on.
- Now stir and allow the mix to cook for 2 minutes on a gentle heat. You want to ensure the flour cooks out or your sauce will tase of raw flour.
- Drain your broccoli as soon as it’s aldente and set aside.
- If you are making this sauce to eat now then you can put your pasta on to cook – providing it’s dry pasta. If fresh wait until the sauce is cooked.
- Now add your milk to the main pan in small quantities stirring the whole time. You want to mix and incorporate the milk bit by bit.Have your heat on low and add a little at a time. Be really patient hear, you’re watching for the source to come together and be smooth and silky.
- Once all the milk is fully incorporated add the 200 ml of boiled water in exactly the same way. You may not need all of the water use your judgement here.You are looking to create a silky sauce. If you add a little bit too much water just allow it to cook off before moving on.
- Next roughly chop your broccoli and add it to the sauce. You want a mix of smaller and bigger chunks.
- Add all the cheese to the sauce in two stages – mix to fully Incorporated
- Season to taste and serve if you are making this to freeze allow to cool, portion and freeze for a rainy day
Video
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