Yes, it’s rich. Yes, it’s fattening. And yes, it’s gorgeous. This is in fact the evening supper that prompted Mr Gastronomics to rub his tummy contentedly, plonk a kiss on my cheek and tell me he’s glad I’m doing this “blogging thing”. Praise indeed, eh?
This recipe for pasta with goats cheese sauce is very simple, but really tasty, and is actually probably a good first date meal. Not too fancy it could all go horribly wrong, but a little outside of the box, with a touch of luxury. This recipe is for four small portions, but I was literally smacking the boyfriend’s hand away from the dish to preserve tomorrow’s portions, so you may want to double up if you’re hungry.
Ps – in the photo I’ve used wholewheat spaghetti as I was unable to find any other type of long brown pasta – anybody got any clue where I can get brown linguine / tagliatteli?
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 half side of smoked salmon, sliced + 1 log of goat’s cheese + 1/2 tub crème fraîche + 1 cup milk + 1 bag tagliatelli / linguini / spaghetti (who really cares what shape it’s in, it’s pasta)
- 1 drizzle olive oil
- 1 tbsp black pepper + 1 tbsp fresh basil
1. Put pot of slightly salted water on to boil. Add glug of olive oil.
2. Heat olive oil in deep pan, adding garlic and browning slightly. Reduce heat, remove all rind from goat’s cheese (see cheats below) and melt in pan, adding crème fraîche, milk and seasoning slowly. If the sauce is a little thick for your liking, just more milk to it. Warm, but do not allow to boil. Simmer for longer if you got a little heavy-handed with the milk and the sauce is too runny.
3. Remove pasta from water when al dente, run through with water to remove some of the starch, and plate up.
4. Drop the smoked salmon pieces into the sauce, stir in, and add to the plated pasta. Sprinkle some green leafy stuff (parsley, basil, etc) on top, and serve.
Cheats:
Goats Cheese: This bit is important. I have in fact devoted an entire post to my Goats Cheese Rant. Long story short, I’d recommend the Aldi roll of goat’s cheese – it’s mild, has no rind and costs about €1.99. Perfect.
Smoked Salmon: Thankfully, this has got a lot cheaper, and there are usually special offers on whole sides of smoked salmon. Lidl and Aldi do great half packs for about €3-4.
Topping: If you fancy a bit of a bite to the pasta, just crumble some remaining goats cheese on top and stick under the grill for a few minutes. This adds a tasty, crunchy texture to the dish which is actually so satisfying it should be illegal.
Crème Fraîche: If you’re watching the calories, Weight Watchers do a great version for about €1.49 in Tescos, and an entire tub contains just 152 calories. The Lidl version is 89c and has about 220 calories, from memory. I haven’t touched double cream for a dish since I discovered this great little French cheat.