Broccoli cheese pasta (recipe)

I could manage some more, please – JD, 5

Here’s a lovely family recipe for broccoli cheese pasta. It’s really easy to make and uses semi-skimmed milk and light soft cheese to keep the fat content to a minimum.

The fresh broccoli and creaminess of the sauce should appeal to kids and there’s just enough mustard, chilli and pepper to give it a slight kick without being too much for little tastebuds to handle.

Here’s what to do – this recipe feeds four.

Ingredients

• 400g fresh broccoli florets
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 800ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• pinch sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 400g light Philadelphia
• 1.5 tsp mild chili powder
• 500g fresh egg pasta (I cut lasagne sheets into wide strips)

Instructions

1. Boil the broccoli until just cooked (not overly soft), then drain
2. When cool, chop roughly into inch pieces and set aside
3. In a pestle and mortar, crush the mustard with the salt, pepper, chilli
4. Warm the oil over a medium heat, then stir in the flour
5. Slowly add the milk bit by bit, ensuring it’s fully combined before adding the next bit of milk
6. Stir in the cream cheese, mustard, chilli, salt and pepper and heat gently, stirring occassionally until it’s cooked through (you might want to add the spices bit by bit, testing as you go to make sure it’s not too hot for your/your little ones’ tastes)
7. Add the broccoli and stir through
8. Boil the pasta for around 5 minutes until al dente, then drain and plate
9. Spoon over the sauce and serve hot

The spices give the sauce a lovely speckled effect and the broccoli holds the sauce perfectly.

Enjoy!