Magnificent News: Eat Voraciously: A perfect pasta salad

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Here's what's for dinner tonight.

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By G. Daniela Galarza

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A perfect pasta salad

Good day to you, wherever you are! I get emails from Halfway, Ore. — population 288 — and Mexico City; Fox Lake, Ill.; and Perth, Australia. I try to imagine the weather where you are, the season and other data that's particularly pertinent these days. I wonder if you wake up to walk a dog or feed a child or calm a crying cat. Do you start your day with tea or coffee? Toast or fish? Eggs or porridge? I consider whether you've gone to the market over the weekend or ordered a grocery delivery. Are you dining out these days? Are you feeling safe or worried or hopeful or grateful?

Mostly, I try to imagine what you might like to make for dinner.

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For tonight, what if we make pasta salad? It's got crispy broccoli and chunks of feta, and if you play your cards right, it can be on the table in under an hour.

It's a recipe from food writer David Tamarkin's 2019 cookbook "Cook90: The 30-Day Plan for Faster, Healthier, Happier Meals." Tamarkin's recipe starts by having you crisp broccoli florets in a ripping hot oven. This causes them to immediately steam and sweat away their excess moisture before browning and crisping.

When he adapted it for The Post, my editor Joe Yonan used a bag of frozen broccoli, which he found works just as well! If you're still not going to the market that often, and you happen to have broccoli in your freezer, this recipe is just the place to use it.

"Frozen vegetables ... get a bad rap because if you don't know how to cook them they can turn out mushier than you might like, but there are ways around that. One is to roast them at high heat," Joe writes. "I've used that technique with frozen broccoli florets, with good results. One of the keys is something I recommend anytime you're roasting vegetables that you want to get crispy-edged (and don't you always?): preheating your baking sheet right along with the oven."

Let the broccoli roast while you boil a bag of pasta. Use any shape you'd like; I prefer ruffly or curly shapes. Drain the pasta and add the roasted broccoli to it once it's crisp, plus olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, crumbles of feta and a handful of chopped almonds.

The dish is great while it's still hot, but letting the pasta and vegetables marinate in the simple dressing makes it even better.

Today's recipe

Photos by Stacy Zarin Goldberg for The Washington Post; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky; for The Washington Post

Whole Wheat Pasta Salad With Crispy Broccoli

Not a fan of broccoli? Try florets of cauliflower, chunks of zucchini, chopped onions or sweet potatoes instead. Spring peas? Grilled asparagus? Corn off the cob? Sure! Feel free to substitute any kind of noodle, rice cake or gnocchi for the pasta, cooking it according to package instructions. I like the lemon and red pepper flakes that are in here, but you could use a splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar and cracked black pepper instead. Feta is nice with the whole wheat pasta, but goat cheese, a crumbly blue or even grated Parmesan or cheddar work, too. Almonds add crunch, but you could leave them out or substitute walnuts, pecans or pine nuts.

For easy printing and scaling, view this recipe in our Recipe Finder.

Servings: 4
Active Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 (16-ounce) bag frozen broccoli florets (do not thaw)
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided, or more as needed
8 ounces whole-wheat farfalle, fusilli or other short pasta
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more as needed
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup); may substitute vegan feta, such as Violife
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted almonds, coarsely chopped

Steps

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Place a large, rimmed baking sheet in the oven as it heats.

2. Pour the frozen broccoli florets on the hot baking sheet, arranging them in one layer. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Roast 18 to 20 minutes, stirring once and rotating the sheet halfway through, until the broccoli is crisp and browned in spots. Let cool to room temperature.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, for 1 to 2 minutes less than the package instructions indicate.

4. While the pasta is cooking, in a large bowl, combine the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil, the garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and whisk until thoroughly blended.

5. Drain the pasta (do not rinse), and add it to the oil mixture. Toss to coat the pasta in the oil and let cool for about 10 minutes. Add the broccoli, feta and almonds and toss gently to combine. Taste, and season with more salt, pepper and/or red pepper flakes as needed. Serve at room temperature.

Adapted from "Cook90: The 30-Day Plan for Faster, Healthier, Happier Meals" by David Tamarkin (Little, Brown, 2019). Tested by Joe Yonan.

Nutrition information per serving: Calories: 570; Total Fat: 34 g; Saturated Fat: 7 g; Cholesterol: 25 mg; Sodium: 590 mg; Carbohydrates: 55 g; Dietary Fiber: 7 g; Sugars: 1 g; Protein: 18 g.

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