When creating a recipe I sometimes have a difficult time keeping it simple. What tends to happen is I create a recipe and taste test it and think “this is great, what if I added….” and I keep adding ingredients. It doesn’t complicate the recipe really, it’s just more ingredients that can change the outcome of the dish altogether.
Take this recipe for instance. It started out as a broccoli side and ended up a full meal dish. Instead of stopping at broccoli, onion, and pepper, I added bacon for a little punch and then pine nuts. Well, that should have been good enough, but then I added pasta – mostly because I was in the mood for pasta. And then I had to add tomatoes because I had some I wanted to use.
So what you can take from this post is “make it your own.” For example, if you are vegetarian, eliminate the bacon. Or if you don’t like or want pasta, leave it out. Or if you want to keep it simple stick to the original recipe without all the add-ins. Me? I went for all the ingredients, of course!
Sauté bacon, onion, and red pepper.
Add broccoli and pine nuts.
Bacon and broccoli side dish – originally.
Parmesan added – always good!
Pasta added for a light lunch or dinner.
Tomatoes added. As they cook they break down a little to make a tomato sauce. Oh yeah!
Serves 2
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 piece bacon (I used turkey bacon, or use your favorite)
- 2 tablespoons red pepper, chopped fine
- 3 tablespoons onion, chopped fine
- 1 small head broccoli (10-16 oz)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons pine nuts, rough chopped
- 1 1/2 tablespoons parmesan, shredded
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tomato, chopped
Instructions
- Sauté onions, red pepper, and bacon in 2 tablespoons olive oil until bacon is crisp and onions are translucent (about 3-5 minutes).
- Add broccoli, and pine nuts to the pan and continue cooking until broccoli is crispish. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve topped with parmesan.
Nutrition