It has the benefit of the lovely gently flavoured mild goat's cheese (I use the £1.50 soft goat's cheese log from Asda, which I believe originates in France) which melts beautifully and doesn't soak into the pasta, resulting in a claggy, sticky mess as the pasta cools. Because the goat's cheese has a sharpness, it doesn't cling to your palate and each mouthful goes down as well as the first one did.
The recipe originally stated to use Kale, and although I love Kale, hubby has some issues with its leatheriness. As such, I swapped onto Savoy cabbage - which if you make sure to give it just 3 minutes in the pasta water, is perfectly fine.
So, it's just a brief chopping job, then a two-pan cooking job - and onto your plate.
Couldn't be easier! Which is why I booked it in for a Monday - after a day at work, I need a meal that's going to come together easily.
Don't be frightened of the goat's cheese - if you get a mild flavoured creamy one, you'll hardly notice the goatiness of it. It really is streets ahead of plain ordinary cream cheese.
BACON & GOAT'S CHEESE PASTA (Serves 3-4)
Ingredients :
400g penne or fusilli pasta
200g shredded Savoy cabbage
150g streaky bacon, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
150g soft mild goat's cheese
grated parmesan to serve.
Method :
1. Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil.
2. Cook the pasta according to the manufacturer's instructions, however, 3 minutes before the pasta is due to be cooked, add the cabbage to the pasta water.
3. In the meantime, dry-fry the bacon pieces in a frying pan until starting to brown, then drain the fat off (into a cup for roast potatoes!). Remove the bacon to keep warm.
4. Put the onion into the frying pan with 2 tsp of the bacon fat and fry lightly until softened and transparent. Return the bacon to the pan.
5. Add the goat's cheese to the bacon/onion mixture and heat slowly, adding a little milk, to help break the cheese down and make it saucy. Add seasoning (salt & black pepper) to taste.
6. Once the pasta & cabbage are done, drain (retaining a little of the cooking water) and replace in the cooking pan. Add the bacon mixture and lightly fold it through, adding a little of the cooking water if the sauce appears too thick.
Once you're happy with the consistency, serve with a bowl of grated parmesan for sprinkling over.
Yummy!
Formaggio di Capra. Goats Cheese....Love It......Lovely simple dish Jenny.
ReplyDeleteAnd, pasta's, some times, taste so much better with simple ingredients. Rather than all the different sauces.....!
One of my favorites, Spaghetti con Olio...!
When the spaghetti is cooked, tip into a calender, drain.
In the same saucepan, pour some Olive Oil, and add Anchovies, l use one of those small tins. (But then l'm a pig). Use as many as you like.
Melt down the Anchovies, keep stirring, until they blend in with Olive Oil. Put the pasta back....And, There it is....!
Garlic bread....Yeah! Why not.....! :0).
Oooh, that sounds good! I doubt Son & heir would like it, as the anchovies would be a bit too strong for him as of yet. However, I'll remember that for lunchtime next week - I've a whole shedload of little bits of pasta to use up!
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