Monday, March 05, 2007

Baked Pasta with Spinach & Chèvre

pasta-getostgratäng1

This recipe actually started out as a lasagna, but it occurred to us that it would probably be better as a "normal" baked pasta dish. And it was delicious indeed! We ate it with grilled tenderloin of lamb, and I had the leftovers - sans lamb - for lunch. It would have been nice to have a few pine nuts sprinkled on top if you've got some at hand - I bet that would go nicely with the other flavors. Mushrooms would work nicely too!

Baked Pasta with Spinach & Chèvre
Serves 4

300 g large dried pasta - such as penne or tortiglioni
4-5 sundried tomatoes in oil
1 onion
1 garlic clove
100 g fresh spinach - leaves halved if very large
olive oil
250 ml cream (single cream, or even lighter substitutes work well)
250 ml milk
2 tbsp flour (I use a sort that dissolves easily for sauces.)
200 g chèvre cheese
100 ml grated parmesan (about a large handful)
salt, pepper

Boil the pasta in lightly salted water. Drain, but save some of the cooking water.

Slice the tomatoes into strips. Dice the onion and the garlic. Fry in some olive oil until softened, then add the spinach and fry for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix milk and cream, and beat in the flour. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time. let it cook slowly for a few minutes. Crumble in about 3/4 of the chèvre, and all of the parmesan. If the sauce feels very thick, use some of the reserved pasta water to lighten it.

Mix the pasta with the fried spinach mix, and pour into a greased baking dish. Cover with the sauce, and finish with the rest of the chèvre, crumbled on top.

pasta-getostgratäng2

Bake at 200°C for about 20 minutes, or until it's crunchy and golden on top.

Recipe in Swedish:
Pastagratäng med soltorkade tomater, spenat och getost

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

YUM! : )

Anonymous said...

Okay, I made this last night. I just happened to have all the ingredients for it. It was soooooooo good, my husband and I practically snarfed up the entire casserole dish of it! Wow, melted chevre = heaven!! Also, I added dried basil and rosemary. Thanks, Anne! This is going on the permanent pasta list!

Anne said...

Shannon - oooh, that makes me so happy to hear! :) Dried basil and rosemary sounds like lovely additions, will definitely try next time!! :)

Betty Carlson said...

I'm obsessed with Sweden and my Swedish roots, obsessed with food, obsessed with great pasta recipes, obsessed with blogging and am on Blogger too! I'll be back! Oh yes, I used to love cats but now I have kids...

Anonymous said...

Yummie!

Anonymous said...

Anne, I think you meant to write "Recipe in Swedish" above the link to where you post your recipes in Swedish. I'd definitely try this if I ever buy some chevre cheese. It's expensive stuff here in Estonia!

Anne said...

Betty, ooh, welcome! :)

Pene - thanks! :) Sorry to hear chèvre is expensive. It's quite affordable here - good for me, since I love the stuff. :)

Anonymous said...
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