Preparing this recipe was truly a desperate attempt to make
plain old spaghetti and tomato sauce into something more fun and appealing for
my family. I make a simple tomato
sauce at home using canned sauce, olive oil, onion, garlic, crushed red pepper
flakes, a pinch of oregano and salt to taste. My kids prefer I not use sauce from a jar (I know - so
picky!) because it tends to be sweeter than they like and has chunks of
tomatoes that gross them out.
Therefore, when I mentioned pasta and sauce for dinner and
got the sad face, I decided to try and jazz it up a bit. It was simple – a half log of goat
cheese in the deli drawer. I
really can’t believe I hadn’t done this before. The combination of the lightly spiced sauce with the creamy,
tart goat cheese was perfect. It
simply took the tomatoes to a whole new level. Watching the snow white cheese slowly melt into a pool of
red was hypnotizing and the resulting pink creation was sublime.
The kids loved it and now I have a go to dish that is simple
yet not boring. This comes in so
handy when trying to juggle kids and work during the summer months. Trust me, your family will fall in love
with pasta and tomato sauce all over again.
Linguine with Creamy Tomato Goat Cheese Sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried linguine
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 medium sized yellow onion finely diced
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- 2 garlic cloves finely minced
- 2 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 3 - 4 ounces goat cheese
- salt to taste
Cooking Directions
- Prepare linguine according to package directions.
- In a medium saucepan heat oil to medium. Add onion and crushed red pepper and cook for 5 minutes until onions are translucent and softened, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and oregano and stir for about one minute.
- Pour tomato sauce into saucepan, stir and let simmer on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Crumble goat cheese and add to sauce. Stir until cheese has completely melted. Add salt to taste.
- Divide liguine into 4 bowls and pour hot sauce overtop. Garnish with fresh basil (optional).
