Recently I had a visit to a cheese making factory here in Netherlands. There a pretty lady, wearing a beautiful traditional dress of Dutch cheese makers, demonstrated how to make cheese right from the very basics, which I liked immensely. Again I enjoyed a lot tasting diverse varieties of cheeses which was an added attraction. I knew little bit about cheeses made from cow milk before; however what seemed interesting to me was the ‘goat’s cheese’. It was a much softer and easy to melt in your mouth, although seemed a bit stronger in taste too. I packed some of it back home and since looked to utilise in a proper recipe. While scrolling down the pages of my small pasta book, I hit upon the simplest one of the lot and had a great dinner with cheesy pasta.

Ingredients to server 2 :

1. Olive oil – 1 tbspoon
2. Butter – ½ tbspoon
3. Onion (chopped finely) – ½
4. Bell pepper (deseeded and cut into 2-cm./¾ inch squares) – 1 red + 1 yellow
5. Garlic (sliced thinly) – 1½ cloves
6. Dried penne/rigatoni – 225 gm.
7. Goat’s cheese (crumbled) – 65 gm.
8. Fresh basil leaves (shredded) – 15
9. Black olive (pitted and sliced) – 10 (I skipped it as didn’t have in my stock)

Procedure :

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and fry until soft. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the peppers and garlic. Cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring, until the peppers are just tender. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Cook the paste in plenty of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain and transfer to a warmed serving dish. Add the goat’s cheese and toss to mix.

Briefly reheat the sauce. Add the basil and olives. Pour over the pasta and toss well to mix, then serve immediately.

Note :

1. If you don’t find goat’s cheese then use any good quality cheese.