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Saturday, April 2, 2011

Rigatoni With Goat Cheese, Olives, Pine Nuts and Basil

I have said it before and I will say it again, I LOVE PASTA! It is total comfort food for me. I would never survive one of those no carb diets! No Way!
I love the way pasta tastes but I also love it because you usually only need a handful of ingredients and 10 minutes and you have a tasty dinner!
I made this the other night when my in house taste tester was at work. He hates goat cheese so I knew he would not go for this dish. Me on the other hand, this is right up my ally!
What you need,
1 lb rigatoni (or any tubular pasta you like)
1 ½ cups of goat cheese
½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese
Salt/Pepper to taste
¼ cup pitted kalamata olives
¼ chopped basil leaves
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
(I only made half this recipe because it was only me eating it, but there was plenty for supper and enough for a lunch the next day.)
This is super easy, here we go...
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve a cup or so of the pasta water when you drain it. Put the drained pasta back in the pot add in the goat cheese and Parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Add some of the pasta water to thin the sauce until you have a nice smooth sauce just thin enough to coat the noodles. I used maybe ¼ - ½ cup.
Stir in the olives, pine nuts and basil.
Adjust seasoning as needed.
Serve right away.
Note: to toast the pine nuts put them in a small non stick skillet over medium low heat. Stir them around for 3-4 minutes until lightly browned and fragrant. Watch them closely they will burn fast!
Oh sweet creamy pasta how I love you!
I could eat this every day. I can't wait to get my planter boxes full of basil, right now it costs and arm and a leg at the store and it's not super nice either.  Come on summer, Hurry Up!
Jen

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