Goat cheese makes a terrific filling for ravioli–we used to serve them at Po Restaurant, stuffed with goat cheese and scallion, dressed with butter and sage.  They were a wonderfully rich and festive dish. 

The same combination of flavors can also be assembled into a quick pasta dish for a weeknight meal.  Simple fettucine can be dressed with ribbons of spinach, butter, goat cheese (melted right into the sauce), and a few strips of lemon zest for bright, tartness.  A bit of chicken broth pulls all the flavors together, then disperses them evenly into a sauce.

The most time-consuming part of making this dish is cleaning the spinach, but if you’re using packaged, ready-washed spinach, all that remains is to boil the pasta and zest a lemon!

Fettucine with Spinach, Goat Cheese and Lemon

serves 2

1/2 lb fettucine

10 oz. fresh cleaned spinach, sliced into ribbons

2 oz. creamy goat cheese (with herbs or without–if you’re using the herbed variety, remove all but about 1/2 teaspoon of the herbs).

3 tbls butter

1 c chicken broth

zest of a lemon

plenty of grated parmigiano for sprinkling

Boil pasta in salted water. 

When pasta is about 4 minutes shy of done, in a broad skillet, melt butter and add spinach and lemon.  Toss and saute for a minute. 

When pasta is a minute shy of done, add to skillet, along with goat cheese.

Toss and saute pasta in sauce for about a minute, adding some pasta cooking water if the mixture is tight.  Taste for salt, pepper, and serve.