Thursday, May 24, 2007

Linguine with Tomato Sauce, Spinach and Goat's Cheese



This recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Dinners and is in the section I spoke about the other day called Family Tree. This section was based around Jamie's Basic Tomato sauce and was very yummy.

Jamie's Tomato Sauce is not that different than how I would usually make a tomato based pasta sauce, except that where I would normally use crushed canned tomatoes, he uses whole canned tomatoes. His reason being that he says the seeds should not be released from the tomato until near the end of cooking, as they impart a bitter flavor to the sauce. To be honest, I didn't find his sauce much sweeter, but it was still very tasty. He also adds a dash of red wine vinegar at the end of cooking, whereas I would usually use red wine if I have it. The vinegar gave the sauce a nice little kick.

The goat's cheese that is added at the end also imparted a lovely flavor to the overall dish. This is not an ingredient I have ever used in pasta, but it is one that I would definitely use again!



Jamie's recipe for the tomato sauce is quite simple. Finely chop 2-3 cloves of garlic and saute in some olive oil for a few minutes. Then add either some dried basil or oregano and a whole chilli (Jamie takes this out later, but I love spicy food, so I chopped mine and left it in). Then add 2 large cans of whole tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 30 minutes. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon, then cook the pasta. As the pasta cooks, add a handful of spinach and let it wilt. Drain pasta, toss with the sauce, then add some parmesan cheese and sprinkle with goat's cheese.

Easy peasy, as well as healthy and delicious. I had enough sauce left over that I could freeze it for later use as well...yum!

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