Dinner Recipes
Homemade Bowtie Pasta in Broccoli Cream Sauce
This pasta is basically a love note in food form — we always reach for the recipe when we’re cooking supper for our favorite people (or trying to get our kids to eat broccoli). The one-pan broccoli cream sauce is rich, garlicky, and full of Parmesan and teeny, crisp-tender broccoli florets. And the homemade bowtie pasta makes the meal feel extra special.
DIY-ing bowtie pasta is actually pretty easy, like an afternoon craft project you can eat. We whip up a simple pasta dough, roll it out, cut it into little rectangles, and then pinch the centers to make the bowtie shape. It’s meditative and fun, and the kids love to help with the pinching. Most importantly, you get tender, eggy, super fresh noodles to go with the sauce.
Homemade bowtie pasta in broccoli cream is comfort food at its finest — it’s exactly the sort of meal we all crave at the end of a long week. Spend Saturday afternoon prepping the bowties, and once you’re ready to eat, quickly whip up the sauce. Before you know it, you’ll be sitting down for a cozy dinner with the people you love.
Serves: 6 to 8
Share:
Homemade Bowtie Pasta in Broccoli Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Divide the prepared pasta dough into 4 equal portions and cover them with plastic wrap. Note: pasta dough left out in the open will dry out, which makes it tough to roll and cut.
Working with one portion at a time, roll the dough into a 4x8” oval and lightly dust it with flour.
Set the KitchenAid pasta sheeting attachment to #1 (or any pasta machine), the widest setting, and feed the dough through on medium speed. Fold the dough in half and feed it through again. Repeat this step a few times, until the dough is slightly lighter in color and the sheet is as wide as the pasta sheeter.
Reduce the sheeter to #2 and feed the dough through 2 times. Continue reducing the sheeter, running the dough through twice each time, until you have reached #7 on the pasta sheeter.
Lay your pasta sheet on a flat, lightly floured surface, and cover it with plastic wrap or a tea cloth.
Using the fluted side of the pastry cutter, trim the long sides of the pasta sheet, then slice it down the middle lengthwise to create 2 3”-wide sheets. Trim the short end of the pasta sheet with the straight side of the pastry cutter, and cut the sheets into 1 ½”-wide strips.
Take each 3x1½ ” piece of pasta and pinch the center together to create a bowtie. Place the bowties on a lightly floured sheet pan and set the pasta aside until ready to use.
Repeat steps 2 through 7 with the remaining dough.
In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.
Stir in the broccoli and season with salt and black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli becomes a vibrant green, about 3 minutes.
Add the cream, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, 3 to 4 minutes.
Stir in the lemon juice and Parmesan and cook until the cheese melts. Turn off the heat.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season liberally with salt. Add the bowties and cook until al dente, about 3 minutes.
Strain the pasta and add into the cream sauce. Gently stir to combine.
Garnish with fresh parsley, freshly ground black pepper, grated Parmesan, and red pepper flakes. Enjoy hot.