Broccoli and ham pasta with the Thermomix® is our standard Wednesday dinner. The cheese sauce is ready in 10 minutes in the mixing bowl while the pasta cooks in parallel. Here is how we make it: cook 400 g of pasta separately in a pan, add 400 g of broccoli florets 3 minutes before the end, and let the sauce of 180 g Gouda, 300 g double cream and 100 g vegetable stock cook for 7 minutes at Varoma on speed 3. Done in 25 minutes for 4 servings.
The cheese sauce is a classic roux. Butter and flour are cooked together at Varoma for 1 minute. This binds the flour into the hot butter before the cream goes in, which is why there are no lumps. This step is exactly what sets our recipe apart from the many community versions that use processed cheese or cornflour.
Quick Broccoli and Ham Pasta, Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 13 ✓
- 180 g Gouda
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 40 g butter
- 1 tbsp flour, type 405 (plain flour)
- 300 g double cream
- 100 g vegetable stock
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 400 g pasta
- 400 g broccoli florets
- 4 sprigs parsley
- 200 g cooked ham
Instructions 0 / 9
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1
Grate the Gouda.
Cut Gouda into pieces, place in the mixing bowl and grate for 7 sec / speed 5, then set aside.
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2
Chop the onion and garlic.
Peel and halve the onion and peel the garlic. Place both in the mixing bowl and chop for 3 sec / speed 8, then scrape down with the spatula.
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3
Sweat.
Add the butter and steam for 2 min / Varoma / speed 2.
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4
Cook with flour.
Add the flour and cook for 1 min / Varoma / speed 2.
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5
Make the cream sauce.
Add the double cream, vegetable stock, Gouda, salt and pepper and cook for 7 min / Varoma / speed 3.
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6
Cook the pasta.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pan according to the packet instructions, adding the broccoli florets 3 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
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7
Prepare the parsley.
Wash the parsley, shake dry and pick off the leaves.
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8
Slice the ham.
Cut the ham into strips, add to the mixing bowl and combine for 30 sec / reverse direction / speed 2.
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9
Serve the pasta.
Toss the pasta and broccoli with the cheese sauce and serve topped with parsley.
Tip: You can use thin slices of frankfurter sausages instead of cooked ham.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why Gouda and not Parmesan
Gouda melts evenly at 70 to 80 °C and gives the cream sauce a smooth, creamy texture. Parmesan would turn stringy after 7 minutes at Varoma and would split. Gouda delivers a salty cheese flavour without any fuss. A young Gouda (around 4 weeks old) melts most cleanly; an older one will turn grainy.
We grate 180 g of Gouda in one piece at speed 5 in 7 seconds. It is faster than pre-grated cheese from a bag and tastes more intense because the flavour compounds have not oxidised. Pre-grated cheese from a packet also contains anti-caking agents such as starch or cellulose, which can taste floury in a warm sauce.
The order of ingredients decides whether you get lumps
Onion and garlic are chopped at speed 8 for 3 seconds, then sweated with 40 g of butter for 2 minutes at Varoma on speed 2. This releases the flavour compounds. Then 1 tbsp of plain flour (type 405) is added and cooked for 1 minute at Varoma in the butter. That is the roux.
Only then do 300 g of double cream, 100 g of vegetable stock, the grated Gouda, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper go in. The mixture cooks for 7 minutes at Varoma on speed 3. This emulsifies the sauce and melts the cheese. If you add the cream before the flour, you will end up with flour lumps floating in the sauce.
Add the broccoli 3 minutes before the pasta is done
Cook the pasta in a pan in parallel according to the packet instructions. Three minutes before the end, add the broccoli florets to the boiling water. That is enough for al dente broccoli. Any longer and it turns mushy and loses its green colour. Cut the florets to an even size beforehand, roughly walnut-sized, so that all the pieces are ready at the same time.
Once the cheese sauce is ready, add 200 g of ham strips for 30 seconds on reverse direction at speed 2. The reverse direction prevents the ham from being shredded. Drain the pasta and broccoli, toss with the cheese sauce and serve with parsley.
Pasta in a pan or all-in-one in the mixing bowl: what works better
Many Thermomix® versions cook the pasta directly in the mixing bowl and steam the broccoli in the Varoma at the same time. This saves a pan but has two downsides. First, the pasta gets slightly damaged by the rotating blades in the mixing bowl and the starch clouds the sauce. Second, the cooking point is harder to control because the pasta cooks unevenly in the thick sauce.
We deliberately cook the pasta separately in a pan. The benefit: the pasta stays al dente, the sauce stays clear and the broccoli keeps its bite. The only trade-off is a second pan to wash up. If you really want to use just one piece of equipment, you can use the all-in-one method: 400 g pasta plus 200 g ham with 700 g water and 400 g double cream in the mixing bowl, broccoli in the Varoma, then 15 minutes at Varoma on reverse direction on a gentle speed. The sauce will never be as clean as with the roux method, though.
Three common mistakes that ruin the cheese sauce
The sauce splits and turns grainy
If the temperature rises above 90 °C, the protein in the cheese curdles and the sauce turns grainy instead of creamy. This happens mainly when the Varoma setting is confused with the actual 100 °C cooking setting.
Our fix: Stay on Varoma, do not switch to 100 °C. Varoma keeps the sauce at around 90 °C, which is enough to melt the cheese without curdling it. If the sauce does split, add 1 tbsp of cold cream and stir for 20 seconds on speed 4. That usually brings it back together.
Flour lumps floating in the sauce
Flour lumps form when the flour meets cold liquid directly, rather than being cooked in the butter first. The starch clumps immediately and will not dissolve.
Our fix: Follow the order. Sweat the butter and onion for 2 minutes first, then cook the flour for 1 minute, and only then add the cream and stock. This way the roux binds the sauce cleanly.
The broccoli turns mushy and grey
Broccoli loses its bright green colour and goes soft after about 6 minutes of cooking. If you add it at the start with the pasta, you will end up with grey broccoli mush.
Our fix: Add it only 3 minutes before the pasta finishes. If you want to keep it really crisp and green, rinse the broccoli briefly under cold water after draining.
Frankfurters, cream cheese or vegetarian: four variations
With frankfurter sausages instead of ham: Cut thin slices of frankfurter into 5 mm rings and stir them in for 30 seconds on reverse direction at speed 2, just like the ham. This gives a slightly smoky flavour and tends to be more popular with children.
With cream cheese for extra richness: Replace 100 g of the double cream with 100 g of full-fat cream cheese. Add the cream cheese together with the Gouda. The sauce will be thicker and slightly tangier, closer to the cream cheese versions in the Thermomix® community.
Vegetarian without meat: Simply leave out the ham or sausages. The cheese sauce carries the dish without meat. Alternatively, stir in smoked tofu cut into cubes on reverse direction for a hearty note.
With more vegetables: Peas or sliced mushrooms work well alongside the broccoli. Add peas like the broccoli in the last 3 minutes, and sweat mushrooms briefly in the butter beforehand.
Side dishes and recipes that go well with it
A fresh green salad goes well with the broccoli and ham pasta as a contrast to the creamy sauce. For something more substantial, serve a crusty bread alongside. From our pasta section, we recommend the ham pasta gratin with Thermomix® if you like a baked version, or the lighter tomato and Mozzarella bake.
If you want to make the pasta yourself, we have instructions for fresh pasta dough with the Thermomix®. Fresh pasta absorbs the cheese sauce even better than dried and only needs 3 to 4 minutes of cooking time.
How long the pasta keeps and how to reheat it
The finished pasta keeps for 2 days in the fridge in a sealed container. When reheating in the microwave or in a pan, add 1 to 2 tbsp of milk because the sauce thickens as the pasta absorbs it. Warm through slowly over medium heat, stirring regularly, and the sauce will not split.
Freezing does not work well for this dish. The cream sauce splits on thawing and the broccoli goes mushy. If you want to prepare ahead, freeze only the cheese sauce without the pasta and broccoli. It keeps for 2 months and can be stirred smooth again with a little cream when reheating.
The most common questions about broccoli and ham pasta
Also good with: Parmesan.
More pasta recipes with the Thermomix®: ham pasta gratin, tomato and Mozzarella bake, fresh pasta dough.
