Lemon Goat Cheese Spaghetti

Ohhhhhh I've been waiting for A LONG TIME to tell you about this!

There's a story here. 

I had some goat cheese.  One of those regular little logs that are vac-sealed and thank goodness last awhile in the fridge so it wasn't going bad like the rest of my cheeses?  

One of those.  I bought it and then realized I had no clue what to do with it, but I totally love goat cheese so....I thought of pasta.  With lemon.  Coated in goat cheese. 

I wrote it on my "don't forget to cook this" whiteboard (yep, it's a thing), and then my friends Wes and Sangeeta saw it and demanded that when I made goat cheese pasta they were invited.  So.  We invited them over.  And ate goat cheese pasta.  

You're welcome for that story! 

So the pasta.  It takes less than half an hour to make, the flavor is incredible, and it's vegetarian!  Let's get right to it.  You need pasta, lemon, goat cheese, mascarpone, dill, garlic, parsley, and a scallion.  That's it!  

First, bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta with lots of salt.  Once the water boils, boil the pasta to al dente for however long the package says.  Before you drain the pasta, reserve at least a cup of the starchy water to help with the sauce later on.  

Then, preheat a pan to medium (or medium low if your stove gets really hot) with a drizzle of oil and grab the garlic.  I like grating it directly into the pan, but you can finely mince it if you'd rather!

Grate the garlic into the oil and let it cook for one minute.  It should sizzle but not brown.  When you can smell the garlic, add the goat and mascarpone cheeses to the pan.  Stir them to let them melt.  

While the pasta is cooking and the cheeses are melting, chop the parsley and dill and slice the scallion.  That is the end of all the prep for this whole meal.  Yay!

When the cheeses are nearly melted, zest the lemon directly into the garlic mixture.  Stir for one minute, then turn the heat off.  We want the lemon zest to be basically raw, so don't worry if the cheese isn't totally melted yet. It will once you add it to the pasta!

When the pasta is drained, add it back to the pot you boiled it in.  Pour the cheese mixture all over it. 

Then, add the herbs!  

Toss the herbs, pasta, cheese mixture, and a bit of the pasta water together with tongs for a minute or two so the cheeses fully coat the spaghetti.  Taste, and add salt if you'd like or more pasta water to help the sauce spread evenly throughout the dish.   

That's it!  Serve this with bread, lemon wedges, extra herbs...whatever you'd like!

We ADORED this, and I hope you will too.  It's great for weeknights because it's so fast, but the goat cheese makes it juuuuuust special enough for weekends too.  LOVE that in a meal. 

Shared with my Weekend Potluck gals.  

Recipe

Lemon Goat Cheese Pasta

Lindsay Howerton-Hastings

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 16 ounces spaghetti
• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 4 ounces goat cheese
• ▢ 4 ounces mascarpone cheese
• ▢ 1 large or 2 small clove s garlic
• ▢ ¼ cup fresh dill chopped
• ▢ ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
• ▢ 1 scallion sliced
• ▢ 1 lemon
• ▢ salt

Instructions

 

• Heat a large pot of water to boil with 1 tablespoon or so of salt. When the water boils, add the pasta and cook it to al dente according to the package directions. Right before draining, reserve 1 cup of pasta water from the pot.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When the olive oil is just warm, grate or mince the garlic and add it to the oil for 1 minute - we want it to barely sizzle, not brown at all. After one minute, add the goat cheese and mascarpone to the mixture. Let the cheeses melt together gently while the pasta cooks. When the cheeses are melted, zest the lemon directly into the cheese/garlic mixture. Stir for 1 minute and turn off the heat.
• When the pasta is cooked and drained, add it back to the pot. Pour in the cheese mixture, half the pasta water, and most of the dill, parsley, and scallions. Toss together with tongs and taste - add more salt if needed or more pasta water to ensure that the cheese evenly coats the pasta.
• Cut the zested lemon into wedges for serving. Serve the pasta topped with any extra herbs and scallions and lemon wedges.

Nutrition

Serving: 4g

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!