More Penne

Last night at dinner, our niece Lily who is seven months old was eating & loving my penne with proscuitto & asparagus. I was so proud of her for loving her veggies & even eating her Uncle Matt's asparagus, Matt does have an aversion to green food :) Well this morning I was bragging about it to my mom & she pointed out that penne would be a perfect finger food for babies. With that in mind I set out to figure out a new penne dish for Lily. Here is what I came up with:

16 ounces Penne
3 cloves
garlic, halved
2 pounds broccoli, halved lengthwise and sliced diagonally
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/4teaspoon pepper
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped basil

Cook Penne and garlic according to package directions, adding broccoli during last 3 minutes of cook time. Drain, removing garlic. Place pasta and broccoli in large bowl.Add oil, 2 tablespoons Parmigiano cheese, basil, salt and pepper; toss to coat.Stir in ricotta cheese. Sprinkle with remaining Parmigiano cheese.

Don't quote me on this but I am pretty sure Lily could eat this if the broccoli was chopped small.