Baked Pasta with Spinach & Chèvre

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.



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