Creamy Goat Cheese & Spinach Pasta

This is probably my new favorite recipe. What is better than ooey gooey delicious goat cheese? Answer: nothing. I don't care that I used half the wrong pasta, I don't care that it wasn't cooked the best and I don't care that maybe my spinach wasn't thawed enough. Ooey. Gooey. Goat cheese. That's all that matter with this recipe. It's absolutely heavenly! I will say that after a couple days in the fridge, it starts to clump up a bit, but I blame the Orecchiette for that, not the rest of the ingredients (it's a weird little pasta). But clumping or not, I still enjoyed this pasta every time I ate it. Oh so good. And the best part? I made it all by myself, while Will was gone! Now I know that pasta is one of the easier things to make, but that doesn't mean I can't be proud of myself, right?

On the topic of Will - he's back for a couple days before shoving off to another part of Virginia for his summer internship. He had a fantastic time in Italy and may even have some recipes to share from a cooking class he took there! They obviously won't be as good as this pasta recipe here - hah! But he made a five-course dinner at the class and even brought home a specialty pasta-making tool, which I'm excited about! It'll look so cute on the wall....I can't imagine he plans to actually use the thing. According to Will, during the class it appeared to his colleagues that he was totally in his element, which I can only assume to be true. Will? In a kitchen? Making complicated things? Noooooo, never. Not Will! Anywho, I hope he can share the recipes with us here on CWW (he's checking with the chef to see if it's okay), but if nothing else he can share about the experience and some pictures that another person on the trip took. Get excited!

Cooking Notes: I changed several things about this recipe! I used a mix of pasta, instead of just orzo. I also only had unsalted butter, so I stuck with that instead of buying salted just for this. I also used fresh garlic instead of granulated garlic in a jar. The spinach package I got held more than the 10-oz. that the original recipe called for, so I just tossed it all in. And also I bought 5 oz. of goat cheese and added that to make it even better!






Creamy Goat Cheese & Spinach Pasta (inspired by Budget Bytes Cookbook; serves 6)
8 oz. orzo
8 oz. Orecchiette
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp salt
Fresh ground pepper
16-oz. chopped, frozen spinach, thawed
5 oz. goat cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, then add the orzo and Orecchiette and cook for 7-10 minutes or until tender. While pasta is cooking, make sure the spinach is thawed (run warm water over it to help it completely thaw) and squeeze as much moisture out as you can, then set aside. and Drain, keeping 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then return the drained pasta to the pot. Add the butter, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper to the pasta, stirring to melt the butter. Once melted, add the spinach and goat cheese to the pasta mixture, continuing to stir. Add a little bit of the pasta water if the mixture is getting too sticky or dry while stirring. Enjoy!