Mean Green Pasta, with Goat Cheese!

 

I didn’t want to go to the store yesterday so I whipped up this pasta with all stuff we had in the fridge/freezer/pantry. I like this frozen Kale/Spinach mix from Costco, it’s great for smoothies and cooking! Soft goat cheese is a great base for sauces. It’s melts down so easily and pairs well with just about anything.

{serves 3-4}

  • 1 box Banza penne (or pasta of your choice)
  • 3 oz goat cheese
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1/4 white onion
  • 5 cups frozen greens
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 10 green beans
  • 1/4 cup pistachios
  • olive oil
  • parmesan and red pepper flakes for garnish
  1. mince garlic and chop onion, heat oven to 350º F
  2. heat olive oil in a large skillet or wok and add garlic, onion and mustard seeds
  3. when the onion has turned opaque add the greens, you can use any frozen greens you’d like, squeeze in lemon juice
  4. meanwhile bring salted water to a boil for pasta (according to box instructions)
  5. when greens are heated add goat cheese and stir until it’s well incorporated
  6. cook pasta, toast pistachios for 5-7 minutes or until smelling toasty
  7. once the goat cheese is melted and stirred in, turn off heat and cover the sauce
  8. chop green beans removing ends, chop pistachios roughly and set aside
  9. serve green sauce over pasta, top with green beans, pistachios, red pepper flakes and parmesan

© 2018, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

Creamy Goat Cheese Mushroom Sauce over Spaghetti Squash

I was always kind of wary of the whole spaghetti squash as a replacement for pasta thing but once you get over the fact that it’s not going to taste like pasta you start to appreciate how much lighter a vehicle it is. Another little trick that I’ve grown to love is using a tad bit of goat cheese to make a creamy sauce without the heaviness of cream or sour cream. Goat cheese also goes great with mushrooms and spinach and these things all cook quickly so this sauce comes together very easily. The only thing that is time consuming is baking the squash but if you throw it in the oven while you’re doing other things, it’ll just heat up the house and make it smell good to boot. Another cool thing about this recipe is everything is very cheap; mushrooms, onions, squash and spinach (especially when you buy it at costco).

  • 1 spaghetti squash
  • 1/2 cup broth (turkey, chicken or veggie)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pat butter
  • 2 or 3 oz goat cheese
  • 16 cremini mushrooms
  • 1/2 onion white
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 handfuls spinach
  • zest of one meyer lemon
  • juice of 1/2 of a meyer lemon
  • a dot of truffle oil (optional)
  • red pepper flakes (optional)
  • parmesan cheese (optional)

{serves 5}

  1. pre-heat oven to 350º F
  2. bake spaghetti squash whole on a lined baking sheet for 1 hour and 15 minutes
  3. dice onion and mince garlic
  4. heat oil and butter in a wok or large skillet
  5. clean mushrooms and quarter them
  6. add the garlic and onions to the skillet over medium low heat and let cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally
  7. then add mushrooms and continue sautéing until they are cooked through (4 or 5 minutes), zest the lemon into the pan then squeeze the juice of half of it in
  8. cut or crumble the goat cheese into a couple of pieces and add to the pan and stir in until melted
  9. when the squash is finished, let cool and cut in half lengthwise, then discard seeds and scoop out the flesh with a fork
  10. move the spaghetti squash “spaghetti” into a heat safe container and pour the broth over and keep covered in the oven
  11. slice spinach roughly, move the mushroom-goat cheese mixture to one side of the pan and add the spinach on the other side to steam
  12. then incorporate the spinach into the rest of the stuff and serve over the spaghetti squash, top with grated parmesan and red pepper flakes and enjoy!

© 2017, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

Penne with Tomato-Goat Cheese Sauce and Sauteed Spinach

IMG_3832

This is a super simple, pretty healthy and wholly satisfying meal. Also very affordable. These were all just things I happened to pick up at Trader Joe’s the other day.

(serves 1)

  • 4 oz goat cheese
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 10 cherry tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • red chili flakes
  • 2 cups whole wheat penne pasta
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 3 generous handfuls of spinach
  1. heat olive oil in a medium sized pan over medium high heat add (minced) garlic and tomatoes and cover
  2. cook pasta according to instructions
  3. once tomatoes start to blister, pop them with a knife or fork and add goat cheese
  4. once goat cheese starts melting, mix it with the tomato juices and add rosemary (remove from stem), bring down heat and let simmer
  5. when pasta is finished, drain and quickly steam spinach in the pasta pot with a couple teaspoons of water
  6. remove spinach with tongs, shaking off excess liquid, and add it into the goat cheese sauce pan and take that off the heat, season with salt and pepper to taste
  7. pour sauce over pasta, sprinkle with chili flakes, pour yourself a glass of wine and dig in!

© 2016, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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