Green Pesto Pasta with Broccoli and Pine Nuts.

Before moving out in 2007, my idea of cooking was beans with  breaded chicken fillets and potato croquets.  When I decided to move out I decided to buy myself a Student Cook book and settled on Nosh for Students by Joy May.

Joy soon became my go-to food author. I now own the latest edition of her Nosh For Students book (I gave the first book to The Boy and his brother for use at their student house, I doubt it gets used much unfortunately), Nosh for Graduates and Vegetarian Nosh for Students with is approved by the Vegetarian Society.

One of the meals I've been making from the Vegetarian Nosh book recently is green pesto pasta with broccoli and pine nuts.

Serves 1 15-20 minutes:
1 serving of pasta
As much broccoli as you like, I usually use a couple of handfuls
2 tbsp Vegetarian green pesto (I used vegan)
Olive oil- use enough just to make the pesto a desired consistency
1 tbsp pine nuts
Cheese (I used cheddar)

1) Add pasta to boiling water and reduce to simmer
2) Mix the pesto, oil and pine nuts
3) When the pasta has about 5 minutes left, throw in the broccoli
4) Once cooked, mix all together, sprinkle with cheese and serve.

What's good about this meal?
This is quite a balanced meal. The broccoli is part of your five a day, the pasta provides a portion of carbohydrates (I used 'white' pasta here as I bought a load in bulk last year and I'm trying to use it up. But wholemeal pasta would be better) and the pine nuts provide the protein.