Easy Meals: Fresh Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta
This is the first post in my new Man + Kitchen (aka Cooking for Dummies) category.
Aside from the culinary and nutritional advantages, cooking is also a pretty useful social skill. I know from personal experience that plenty of girls love a guy who can cook. (On the flip side, that whole “cooking is the way to a man’s heart” thing seems to be rubbish — at least among urban professionals.).
The sad fact is that most people these days — men and women alike — are pretty clueless in the kitchen. It’s actually pretty easy to follow recipes and cook decent meals. The hardest part is timing — knowing which steps to do when, which is mainly a matter of practice.
Anyway, enjoy…
Fresh tomato and goat cheese pasta
This is a great lightweight summer meal for two. Serve with a chilled bottle of your favorite white wine.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb uncooked pasta, preferably spaghetti
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2-3 oz goat cheese (the soft stuff that’s similar to feta)
- 1 package (usually 1 pint) of cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil (can substitute 2 tablespoons of dried basil)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt & pepper
In a large saute pan (you’ll be using it for the sauce later), heat the pine nuts until lightly brown (don’t use oil). Jostle the pan around frequently to brown all sides of the pine nuts. Remove pine nuts to a small serving bowl and set them aside.
In the same pan, add the olive oil and the garlic, cooking over low to medium heat. You want the garlic to be soft, but not brown. It may help to add a tablespoon or so of water while cooking.
Once the garlic is cooked, add the tomatoes and basil, along with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. (For recipe novices, “to taste” means based on your own preferences.) Heat the sauce on a low setting. You want it to simmer for a while, stirring occasionally.
While the sauce is simmering, heat a large pot of water on high (but don’t add the pasta yet).
After the sauce has simmered for 10 minutes or so, you’ll see that the tomatoes are starting to lose their shape and turn mushy. This is a good thing, but let it continue cooking for now.
By this point the water in the pot should be boiling. Throw the pasta in the pot, and give it a few good stirs to keep it from clumping together. Lower the heat to a point just above where the water is boiling.
(Remember, your sauce is still simmering.)
The pasta box should show a cooking time. At about 2/3 the recommended time, start checking the pasta frequently by tasting a bite to check the texture. You want it tender, but not mushy. When it’s almost done, stir in a few drops of olive oil. This will keep it from sticking. Once the pasta is finished cooking, drain it and divide it onto two plates or pasta bowls.
Now you can turn off the sauce and spoon it over the pasta. While everything is still hot, dollop the goat cheese on top. (You had the goat cheese ready in a serving dish, right?)
Now the meal is ready to serve, at which point you and your guest can stir in the goat cheese to add a creaminess to the sauce, and top it off with some toasted pine nuts.
So easy, yet it never fails to impress!
