Monday, May 25, 2009

Pasta with Goat Cheese, Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This dish has a lot going for it. First of all, the star ingredient is goat cheese. And if you like goat cheese, you really can't go wrong with it. The slight nutty flavor is fantastic, and it's definitely a welcome change from your typical Italian or American cheeses. The recipe itself is super easy and probably took about 15 minutes from start to finish (maybe a little longer because we forgot to start our water boiling). The sun dried tomatoes have a very distinct and strong flavor, but complement the spinach perfectly. And then the lemon. Ah, the lemon! The lemon ties everything together. It's quick, it's easy, it's delicious. Basically, we loved it.

Pasta with Goat Cheese, Spinach and Sun-Dried TomatoesRecipe by Kelly
Pictures by Caroline

1 lb penne/spiral pasta
6 oz goat cheese*
1 small jar sun dried tomatoes (in oil), drained
1 bag spinach, coarsely chopped
1 plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
  1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook just until firm. Drain.
  2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan. Add the spinach and saute until spinach begins to wilt, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
  3. Mix 3 tablespoons olive oil and goat cheese together in a large bowl. Add hot pasta and stir until pasta is well coated with cheese.
  4. Reheat pan with wilted spinach. Add cheese/pasta mixture to pan with spinach. Add sun dried tomatoes, salt, pepper and lemon juice and stir until well combined.
*Be sure to get the non-crumbled kind, as it will melt better on the pasta.

6 comments:

M said...

My mouth is watering. I'm going to make this tonight.

Diana said...

mmmm, i'm totally trying this recipe this week. thanks kelli!

M said...

This recipe was so good! My only issue was that I could not find any goat cheese in a 6 oz or larger container. Everything at my store was available in 4 oz wrappers, so I had to boil a smaller batch of pasta and use less cheese.

I wish that goat cheese was less expensive - I would love to add LOTS of cheese and make the pasta extra goopy!

ixoj said...

I usually just buy 2 things of goat cheese and save the extra for some lightly broiled bread w/cheese later on. Oh, and I know Costco/Sams Club has very large and relatively cheap packages of goat cheese. Maybe try that next time.

two little chefs said...

M: I purchased a 4oz container of goat cheese at our local grocer's for the same price that I purchased 11oz from Costco. So I would try a large store like that if you have one available.
-Caroline

Unknown said...

This looks great! Can I cook this the night before and re-heat it in the pan?
I am debating adding mushrooms and pine nuts (my favorite)... Thoughts? Thank you!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...