Rich and creamy goat cheese pasta with baby spinach is an easy pasta skillet recipe. This dish is elegant enough for a holiday meal but easy enough for a busy weeknight. Serve it as a meatless main dish or as a delicious side dish with spicy meatballs, grilled chicken, or fish or shrimp.
PREP TIME 5 minutesminutes
COOK TIME 15 minutesminutes
TOTAL TIME 20 minutesminutes
YIELD 6servings
Ingredients
1(16 oz/1lb) package of short pastafarfalle, penne, or fusille
4tablespoonsbutter
2teaspoonsminced garlic
1cup half and half
10ouncesgoat cheesecut into large chunks *see note
1lemonzested and juiced
2teaspoonsdried basil
1/4cupgrated parmesan cheese
2cupsbaby spinach
Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
Boil the pasta for 2 minutes less than the package direction. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid just before you drain the pasta.
While the pasta is cooking, start the sauce in a large skillet that has enough room to toss the finished noodles in the sauce at the end.
Melt the butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until fragrant.
Turn the heat to medium low and add the half and half to the pan. Scatter the large chunks of goat cheese in the cream and add the lemon zest. Whisk everything together as the goat cheese melts.
Once the sauce is silky smooth, add the lemon juice and parmesan cheese and whisk them in.
Add the drained pasta to the skillet and gently toss it to coat in the sauce. Add the baby spinach and stir it into the pasta. It will look like a lot of spinach but it will wilt down within a minute or two.
If the pasta starts to absorb too much of the sauce and looks dry and thick, use the reserved cup of cooking water to drizzle moisture back into the sauce as the spinach cooks.
Once the spinach has wilted, serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
A Note on Goat Cheese:
The most budget-friendly place I've found to buy goat cheese is at Costco where it comes in a 2-pack of 10 ounce logs. This recipe was developed so you can use one whole log without any waste.If you do not shop at Costco, you do not have to use a full 10 ounces of goat cheese. A 6 ounce log would work well, too. You will just want to increase the parmesan cheese to a 1/2 cup to help thicken the sauce if you use less goat cheese.