Pasta With Tomato-Blue Cheese Sauce

From The Pioneer Woman

Pasta With Tomato-Blue Cheese Sauce

Apr. 28, 2010

I’ll just say it: I’m on a pasta kick lately. I’d like to believe—and in fact, I’m telling myself daily—that the sudden uptick in pasta dishes I’ve been making is being spurned on by some kind of deficiency deep within my body. A carb deficiency, perhaps. Yeah…yeah…that’s it. I don’t get enough…carbs, you see, so my body is crying out for more…pasta.

Yeah…yeah…that’s it.

Okay, fine. But it’s far better than facing the truth: that carbs fill a gaping emotional hole in my psyche.

Anyway, I made this pasta the other day. Marlboro Man and the kids had just left for the farm for two days, which meant I could cook something for dinner that didn’t contain animal flesh. I remembered a recipe I’d seen in Cooking Light (I can hear you laughing) somewhere recently—an airport? A waiting room? My psychiatrist’s couch? I can’t remember. But it was a pasta recipe with a (fresh) tomato-blue cheese sauce, which appealed to me very much because I’ve also been on a big blue cheese kick over the past several months. The dish also contained spinach and a couple of other ingredients I couldn’t remember.

I adapted it for my own sick and twisted use. I apologize to Cooking Light for my changes, which were not light at all.

Here’s what you need: Thin spaghetti (or angel hair), canned diced tomatoes (you can use fresh), olive oil, garlic, blue cheese, heavy cream, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and baby spinach.

Cook some thin spaghetti or angel hair. Keep in mind that if you’re using angel hair, it only takes a couple of minutes (at most) for it to cook!

Chop up some garlic…

And heat some garlic in a large skillet.

Throw in the garlic and get it started…

Then pour in one 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes. I drained as much of the juice as I could—you don’t want it too soupy.

Stir it around and cook the tomatoes.

Sprinkle in a little sugar and salt…

And some crushed red pepper, which gives it some oomph.

After it’s cooked for about 10 to 15 minutes, add in the crumbled blue cheese. I did a heaping 1/2 cup, but feel free to add a little more if you like that strong cheesy tang.

Stir the cheese into the sauce and watch it melt. Lick your chops. Repeat as needed.

When it’s all melted, pour in some cream. You can use half cream, half half-and-half. (Half half-and-half? I’m dizzy.)

Shake the pan around and stir to combine the cream. Taste it and add in a dash of whatever it needs.

Now, this is the most important step! Turn off the burner. And at the very last minute—as in, people are sitting at the dinner table pounding their forks and knives and chanting “We wanna eat! We wanna eat!”—throw in a large amount of baby spinach. This is about two cups, but you really need to add twice this amount since the spinach shrinks away to almost nothing.

Don’t cook the spinach at all! Just toss it around and allow the heat of the sauce to wilt it. And act fast! This is best if the spinach still has a little life to it.

Immediately throw in the cooked pasta (or you can put the pasta in a bowl and pour the sauce over the top.)

Toss it around, and if it seems a little thick…you can thin it with a little half-and-half.

Immediately pour it into a serving bowl and go for it! For presentation, it’s nice to add some blue cheese crumbles to the top.

But I was all by myself. Presentation wasn’t really a factor.

Lemme tell you something. This was divine. The blue cheese is a really unexpected flavor—looking at the dish, you expect it to be the typical tomato/parmesan/basil pasta. But then you take a bite and realize there’s more to life than tomato, parmesan, and basil pasta.

Enjoy!

Here’s the handy dandy printable:

 

Pasta with Tomato-Blue Cheese Sauce

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Prep Time: 2 Minutes

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1-½ pound Pasta (angel Hair Or Thin Spaghetti)
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole 28-ounce Can Diced Tomatoes, Drained
• Dash Of Sugar
• Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, To Taste
• ¾ cups Crumbled Blue Cheese
• ¾ cups Heavy Cream
• 4 cups Baby Spinach
• Half And Half, For Thinning
• Extra Blue Cheese Crumbles, For Garnish

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. When hot, add minced garlic and cook for a minute. Pour in drained tomatoes. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to low. Stir in crumbled blue cheese. Add cream and stir, then a little splash of half-and-half if sauce is too thick. Cook for a minute or two, tasting and adding more seasonings as needed.

At the very, very, very last minute. toss in spinach. Immediately toss in the cooked and drained pasta. Serve immediately!