It was one of those evenings. You know the ones, where you look in the fridge expecting a sudden moment of inspiration and the fridge just stares blankly back. I’d put something down on the meal plan but for one reason or another didn’t manage to cook it; sometimes I forget to buy an ingredient or I use it all in another meal forgetting to save any for later in the week. My potato, chargrilled broccoli and pesto salad came out of seemingly nowhere. This meal’s saviour turned out to be a little pot of pesto; it transformed a sorry looking collection of vegetables into a rather tasty meal.
ingredients
You will need (for two):
- 2 large handfuls new potatoes
- 1 small head broccoli
- Small handful green beans, sliced diagonally
- 3-4 tbsp pesto (fresh from a deli or homemade if you like). You could use a vegan pesto to make the meal vegan
- Small handful pine nuts
- 2 handfuls washed rocket
method
Start by scrubbing the potatoes and then chopping them into halves or quarters depending on their size and how you like them. Leaving them a little larger just means they will take a little longer to cook. Put the potatoes into a pan of cold salted water and bring the pan to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer until cooked through.
Chop the broccoli into small florets and pop them in a steamer over the potatoes for 1-2 minutes until bright green but still crunchy.
Get a griddle pan onto a medium/high heat and tip the broccoli in. Keep the broccoli moving occasionally but allow it to get chargrilled at the same time.
Re-use the same steamer and pop the green beans above the potatoes for the last few minutes of the potato cooking time.
Drain the potatoes and green beans and put to one side.
Put a small frying pan onto a medium heat and add the pine nuts, moving them round the pan often until they are toasted.
Mix the broccoli and pesto into the potatoes and beans and then serve up with the rocket and top with the pine nuts.
The chargrilled broccoli adds such a great flavour to this salad, if I was having a barbecue I’d definitely try the broccoli on there before mixing into the salad. This is a really hearty and filling dish and would be a great side but I enjoyed it just on its own. A few halved cherry tomatoes, some leftover chicken or salmon would be delicious additions and would probably leave you enough for lunch leftovers the next day.
From the looks of that dish your fridge inspired you just fine. Looks and sounds delicious.
I’m rarely off-plan but definitely know those nights where things just aren’t going to happen, or I have to deliberately plan in a blank. Yeah, I have homemade wild garlic pesto and a few other “treasures” in the freezer halfway to being meals, but even they require some planning. I keep the single serve sacla fiery chilli duos in the cupboard for these sort of nights in particular!
It looks so delish! I had a huge portion of broccoli today too, but yours looks sooooooooooo much better and tastier.
What a lovely and appetizing dish, Caroline! You did very well straying from the plan. I almost never have a plan, for what it’s worth. I love the addition of pesto- it totally brings it together and makes the whole dish special!
Caroline, looks delicious. Sometimes the combinations we can come up with in situations like this turn out wonderfully well!
I think your refrigerator has better stuff in it than mine does. 🙂 This looks really good — inspired dish. Thanks!
your non-plan is much better than many of my planned dishes! yum!
I love how versatile pesto is, and how it can ‘save’ a dish 🙂
I love how you transform super simple ingredients into really appetizing recipe 🙂
Perfect office lunch !
I think I would love the chargrilled broccoli just by itself!