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| Image & recipe @yummly.com / Smitten Kitchen |
As it turns out, goat cheese makes a really great quick,
creamy pasta sauce. And whether you blanche your pasta with asparagus or you
swap in fava beans or string beans or seriously, you name it, this comes
together so quickly that I forgave it for not winning any beauty contests.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
• 1
pound spiral-shaped pasta
• 1
pound slender asparagus spears, trimmed, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/4
cup olive oil
• 1
tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
• 2
teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon plus more for garnish
• 1
5- to 5 1/2-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese (the pre-crumbled stuff will not
melt as well)
• Fresh
lemon juice to taste (optional)
Method:
Cook your pasta in a large pot of
well-salted water until it is almost tender, or about three
minutes shy of what
the package suggests. Add asparagus and cook until firm-tender,
another two to
three minutes. Drain both pasta and asparagus together, reserving one cup of
pasta water.
Meanwhile,
combine olive oil, lemon peel, tarragon and cheese in a large bowl, breaking up
the goat cheese as you put it in. Add hot pasta and asparagus to bowl, along
with a couple
slashes of the pasta water. Toss until smoothly combined, adding
more pasta water if
needed. Season generously with salt and pepper, and lemon
juice if you feel it needs a little
extra kick.
