I stumbled upon this sauce recipe a while ago and had been wanting to try it for a while. It was so less intimidating than I thought it would be. Not to mention, it’s pretty amazing.
Ingredients:
– Pasta (I used spaghetti, but really anything would work)
– 1 4-oz container of goat cheese, crumbled!
– handful of spinach
– 2 tbs lemon juice
– black pepper & parsley to taste
– pasta water (we’ll get to this in the steps)
As you can see, I’ve also got some prosciutto. Bacon or pancetta or even capers would work well too. It’s just that slight salty touch.
The How-To:
1) Cook your pasta. (If you’re going to add meats that need cooking, go ahead and cook them now while you’re pasta is going. It’s fine for it to just sit and rest once it’s done until you need it, which will be step 4.)
2) Don’t drain it into the sink! Save the water you just boiled your pasta in. The easiest way to do this is place a bowl in the sink, and your colander/strainer over that bowl, then drain the pasta. Return that water (about a cup or so) to the pot. Set the pasta aside.
3) Add your crumbled goat cheese, turn the heat on simmer (aka super super low), and melt the cheese in the water. This forms your sauce. If you like runny sauce, add more water.
4) Add the spinach, parsley, lemon, and pepper. (Also add whatever else you’d like in there…) And, of course, add the pasta back in. Stir and coat it in the sauce. If you want to get fancy and use a real lemon, you can also add some zest too.
5) Serve and enjoy. One tip I found is if your sauce seems really runny at first, let it set for a little bit.
If you do have leftovers, just know that the sauce won’t be as saucy when you reheat it. However, it’s still just as good.
This has become a super easy staple in my menu planning. It takes maybe 20 minutes to prepare, at most. The best thing is, it feels like you’re having a fancy dinner.