Food blog: Spinach fettuccine with shrimp, goat cheese and veggies

Apologies in advance for the lack of pictures in this blog...

So one of my favorite dishes that I've created is this spinach fettuccine pasta dish.  I was tooling around in my pantry trying to figure out how to best make use of spinach pasta, and I had quite a few veggies that were sitting around in the fridge, so I came up with this.

  

For those who are familiar with eating my cooking (ok, that's like two people who read this, but that's okay), I'm more or less obsessed with goat cheese. I put it in scrambled eggs, in omelettes, I find ways to incorporate it into all my pasta dishes, I crumble it on salads, and I love to put it on crostini with fresh tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. MMM.  When I learned I wasn't supposed to eat soft cheeses while pregnant, a little bit of my universe darkened....until I realized that as long as the goat cheese is made with pasteurized goat's milk, I'll be fine. So luckily, I haven't had to sacrifice what I consider a kitchen staple.

OK. Back to the recipe. I have two variations of this recipe. One uses fresh mushrooms and asparagus.  The other uses roasted eggplant. You can really be as creative as you like with this, and I'll explain how to substitute for the variation in the recipe.

Tools you'll need: a large pot for the pasta, colander, large saute pan, cutting board and knife.

Ingredients:
1/2 package of spinach fettuccine noodles
1/2 pound of fresh asparagus, cut into inch long pieces
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
4-6 oz of fresh baby portobello mushrooms
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
3 minced garlic cloves
4 oz of sun dried tomato and basil goat cheese
1 pound of fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined (I also use pre-cooked)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste


Start off by setting a large pot of water to boiling on the stovetop for your pasta.  Add a healthy amount of salt to the boiling water as well. Follow package directions - I used dried fettuccine, which takes around 8-9 minutes to reach al dente. If you use fresh, the boiling time will be considerably less - around 4 to 5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook!


Set the butter and about a tablespoon of the olive oil to medium-high heat in your saute pan.  Add the asparagus and cook for about 2 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook for another 4 minutes.  You want the asparagus to turn bright green and still have a crisp-tender consistency (a good crunch when you bite it, but cooked through and not raw).  Once the mushrooms and the asparagus are sauteed, add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Make sure to reserve a small amount of the pasta water at this point, and drain the pasta and set it aside. 

At this point, add the diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, shrimp, and goat cheese. Your goal here is to heat through the tomatoes and shrimp, while melting the goat cheese. You will notice that the moisture from your asparagus and mushrooms, along with the juice from the diced tomatoes, will combine with the goat cheese to create a creamy sauce.  If you find that the sauce is too thick (which might only happen if you add more than 4 oz of cheese...just saying, sometimes I'm a little over the top with my goat cheese), use the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce a bit.


*I say to use reserved pasta water because it retains the starchiness from the pasta and really adds a better texture to the sauce than just regular water. If you accidentally threw out all of the water, by all means, use regular water and it will still be delicious.

Once you have a creamy sauce and all of the ingredients are warmed through, add the cooked pasta to the sauce and gently toss together.  The ingredients will blend easily and you'll have a completed dish...all in under 30 minutes or so. Please note, I'm not a fan of Rachael Ray, but I'm certainly a fan of cooking efficiently. 

Variation:


Instead of asparagus and mushrooms, you can use eggplant, which I love.  Take one medium sized eggplant (you may not use all of it, just use as much as you prefer), and dice it into one inch cubes.


Place the cubed eggplant in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil, along with a healthy dash of salt and pepper. If you like a little more pep, add red pepper flakes as well. Toss gently to coat all of the eggplant, and add to a baking sheet.  Roast the eggplant for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the eggplant is a golden brown.


Eliminate the butter from the original dish, and drizzle a small amount of olive oil into the saute pan. Add the eggplant and garlic, sauteeing together for a minute or so. Then follow the steps as previously listed by adding tomatoes and shrimp and goat cheese.


Hope you love it :)