Recipe: Broccoli & Bacon Pasta Salad

With the weather being nicer here lately, I’ve been craving more summer-like meals. The other day, I remembered this pasta salad that I used to make and decided to recreate it again. It’s super simple and nice and quick too. I used to have it for dinner, but this time I made it as a little lunch for Shane and I, and I’m taking the leftovers to work for my lunch tomorrow too. Perfect! As usual, I never measure anything out – I just go by what looks good, but I’ve gave some rough estimates as to the amounts I used.

INGREDIENTS:
- 150g uncooked pasta (I used farfalle)
- 3-4 rashers streaky bacon, cut in thin strips
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced
- 1/2 brown onion, finely sliced
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 100g broccoli (I used tenderstem), cut into chunks keeping the stems and heads separate
- 100g cherry tomatoes, quartered
- handful pinenuts
- splash of white wine (optional)
- 1-2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon basil pesto
- a splash of balsamic vinegar
- sprinkle of garlic salt
- sprinkle of dried parsley
- cracked black pepper
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 15g parmesan extra to serve

METHOD:
1. Put a pan of salted water on to boil, and prepare all the vegetables. When the water starts boiling add in the pasta.
2. Fry the bacon in a little oil till almost crispy, then add in the brown onion and broccoli stems and cook till the onions are softened.
3. Add in the broccoli heads and the garlic and cook for a few minutes on a low heat.
4. When the pasta has cooked, drain it and rinse under cold water. Add the white wine to the vegetable mix and when that has reduced, add in the pine nuts, spring onions, tomatoes and pasta and mix it all up.
5. Put the mix in a large bowl and stir in the mayonnaise, pesto, balsamic vinegar, garlic salt and parsley. Give it a good stir then crack over some freshly ground black pepper, extra virgin olive oil and some grated parmesan, then serve it up!

I love that you can serve this up in so many different ways – as a dinner (maybe with a chicken breast), keeping the leftovers for lunch the next day or it would even be the perfect side for a BBQ! And who doesn’t love a good BBQ?! Let me know if you try it out!