Meal Prep Idea: Goat Cheese, Spinach and Sun-dried Tomatoes Bowtie Pasta

Happy Monday everyone! 

How’s everyone doing? I had a pretty eventful week last week! It included food, good people and a lot of sugar and possibly some booze. Okay, who am I kidding?! I drank way more than I should during Saturday night. Today is Monday and I’m still recovering. I swear I’m 23 going on 81.

However, despite my epic hangover I have an incredible and easy pasta recipe that anyone can do. It takes less than 20 minutes to whip together and gosh darn delicious. This makes the perfect lazy dinner or it makes a great work/school lunch for the week. 

This pasta is delicious and it doesn’t sit super heavy. Most pasta has some kind of sauce to keep it from drying out, but this one actually doesn’t have a sauce. The trick to this pasta is reserved pasta water! Pasta water is full of starch so when you add it to your final dish it brings everything together. In this case, the pasta water helps bind the cheese with the noodles, it thickens everything and makes sure the pasta is coated. It’s almost like the knock off version of a creamy cheese sauce but all you did was add starchy water. 

Have you ever had an Alfredo pasta or any cream pasta and felt like it was too rich? The trick is to add a little brightness such as adding a little bit of lemon zest and lemon juice! A little acidity helps cut the richness and helps balances everything. Adding lemon juice won’t make the pasta sour, it just adds this freshness to the dish that makes you go.. where has this been all my life?! Trust me, this little tip and trick is such a game changer. You’ll be adding a little lemon in everything.

This dish is supposed to be fast and easy, the only things that requires chopping are the cloves of garlic and onion. Other than that it’s just dump and stir. Another tip is to make sure you salt your pasta water and that you don’t overcook your pasta. I think pasta should be al dente, follow the directions according to your pasta box. If anything take your pasta out of the water a minute or two before it actually says because you’re going to reintroduce it back to the heat to bring everything together which will continue to cook the pasta. 

I think that’s it! Happy cooking!

Goat Cheese, Spinach and Sun-dried Tomatoes Bowtie Pasta 

Ingredients:

• 1 box of bowtie pasta (I used catelli smart bows 340g)
• 1 medium onion 
• 3 gloves of garlic 
• Half pack of frozen spinach (thawed)
• 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• 1 small pack of goat cheese (140g)
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• Zest of half a lemon
• About 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice 
• 1 1/2 cup reserved pasta water
• 1 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions:

1. In a large pot, boil the bowtie pasta according to package instructions. (Don’t forget to salt the water, I also recommend cooking the pasta about a minute or two less than what it says in the direction since you’ll be bringing it back to the heat again)
2. Chop the onions in diced size pieces and minced the garlic then set to the side. Thaw your frozen spinach in the microwave or leave out at room temperature for an hour then drain any remaining liquid that it retains. 
3. Before draining your pasta, take a measuring cup and reserve about 1 1/2 cup of pasta water then drain your pasta.
4. In the large pot, bring it to a medium-high heat and add in the olive oil and sautee the garlic and onion until it softens. Add the spinach, goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes then your cooked pasta. Add in your reserved pasta water about a cup first and if it still looks dry add in the rest of your liquid. 
5. Season the pasta with your Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper then add in the lemon zest and lemon juice. Give everything a big stir, remove the heat and enjoy!