Penne pasta tossed in tomato-basil sauce and garnished with red chilli flavored goat cheese – this classic pasta recipe is easy to prepare and deeply satisfying on a basic, no-nonsense way. Good food to have on a rainy day like today.
I am under the impression that goat cheese is the purest cheese available in the market right now. I am hoping that I won’t find any information that would shatter my belief and prove how naive I am. Again and again, from sugar to table salt to enriched flour, everything I thought decent were proved otherwise here in US. More and more, the ingredient shopping here is becoming like a sightseeing trip to Las Vegas. (I see gondola ride, is this Venice? Nope, it’s not.) Which is genuine and which is maya (fake) – one has to dig deep to discern the difference.
For now, I am going to enjoy goat cheese – my all time favorite cheese.
Recipe:
Penne (a type of pasta) – 2 cups
Tomato-basil sauce (marinara) – Homemade or storebought – 3 cups
Goat cheese – ½ cup
Fresh garbanzo beans – ½ cup
Red onion and red bell pepper, 1 each – thinly sliced lengthwise
Red chilli powder, salt and turmeric – ½ tsp each or to taste.
Cook pasta to tender following instructions on the packet. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil. Add and saut? red onions and red bell pepper to soft. Add the fresh garbanzo beans and tomato-basil sauce. Stir in red chilli powder, salt, turmeric and about a cup of water. On medium-high heat, cook for about 10 to 15 minutes stirring in-between. When the sauce starts to come together, switch off the heat. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce. Toss to mix and sprinkle in crumbled goat cheese. Serve hot.
Kitchen Notes:
Fresh Goat Cheese type and source: Peppadew Chevre from ‘Trader Joe’s’ (US grocery shop)
What an unusual combination! garbanzo and pasta! Yummy!
Comment by Nisha — November 21, 2006 @ 3:58 pm
Ever since I saw you recipe with fresh garbanzo I have been searching all over but can’t find it! I think I will have to settle for dried peas instead. I love pasta. And if it helps, goat’s milk and sheep’s milk is better for humans than cow’s milk and thus the cheese is better! so you don’t have to feel too guilty 😉
Comment by Praveena — November 21, 2006 @ 5:16 pm
Wow indira!
your recipes are always amazing. I’m sure this one must have tasted yummy.
Comment by sowjanya — November 21, 2006 @ 5:40 pm
YUMM ! Have never tried garbanzo with pasta yet.
Check this website, its smtg abt goat cheese.. http://www.vupp.cz/czvupp/publik/05poster/05CinasyryEM.pdf
Comment by Priya S&S — November 21, 2006 @ 6:52 pm
wowowow! Looks like an awesome dish,Indira.
Your method of preparation and the items you cook show that cooking is never bound by any barriers.
Like this post,I never knew that Garbanzo beans could be added to pasta.Sounds very unique. I would certainly want to try this one.
Comment by Deepu — November 21, 2006 @ 7:21 pm
That’s a lovely recipe. Addition of garbanzo beans is new to me..have to try this though I will have to use regular cheese.thanks a lot.
Comment by Madhuli — November 21, 2006 @ 7:46 pm
Interesting recipe. Nice choice of ingredients to go with Penne!
You go penne..(girl, i mean…:-) ) pardon my kadis!
prabha
Comment by Desimom — November 21, 2006 @ 8:19 pm
Interesting recipe. For some reason, I don’t like goat cheese. I will make this dish with gorgonzola. What do you think, Indira?
Comment by Mythili — November 21, 2006 @ 8:39 pm
Hi Indira,
Did you get the goat cheese with the red chilli flakes embedded? Looks like a very interesting combination… thanks for the recipe! Latha
Comment by Latha — November 22, 2006 @ 1:19 am
Hi Indira,great combination.BTW,I could not find the green garbanzos anywhere here in London.But the combination of goat cheese and pasta is great.
Comment by Vini K — November 22, 2006 @ 1:26 am
Goat’s cheese with red chilli flakes? Where did you get that? Sounds really yummy.
Your photo of the dish looks inviting, Indira.
Comment by Vaishali — November 22, 2006 @ 2:30 am
Hi Indira, I was about to post a Penne recipe and I saw yours.
By the way, you said you learned about a lot of stuff being fake and all…why don’t you give that info to us also…may be a post just for that?
Comment by Tweety — November 22, 2006 @ 2:50 am
Ooops typo in my prev comment. Not penne…read as ‘pasta recipe’
Comment by Tweety — November 22, 2006 @ 3:14 am
Penne with goat cheese – now that’s something I’d like to try. I have always wanted to try out goat cheese but was not sure of the taste. Will do so now.
Comment by Lakshmik — November 22, 2006 @ 4:27 am
What a lovely recipe!! Goat cheese with chilis is new to me!
Kudos,Trupti
Comment by Trupti — November 22, 2006 @ 6:00 am
Well, some goat cheese are made with unpasteurised milk, which means one has to be careful when handling them. But I guess that is the first thing the label on the goat cheese packet would tell you. And I thought most commercial cheese used ‘rennet’to make cheese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennet
Comment by Sowmya — November 22, 2006 @ 6:01 am
Yummy! I love the way the sauce seeps into the rigate. Looks delicious. Addition of turmeric to a pasta dish is new to me; I’d love to try that.
I was at the cheese deli yesterday searching for some good vegetarian cheeses (if you are concerned about rennet, that is). I didn’t have any luck with goat cheese but did find a good hard cheese – pecorino romano which is animal rennet free. I refer to this list from time to time (if you haven’t already seen this) http://cheese.joyousliving.com/CheeseListBrand.aspx
– Roopa
Comment by RD — November 22, 2006 @ 6:51 am
Penne is my favorite and this looks delicious!
Comment by krista — November 22, 2006 @ 7:47 am
Happy Thanksgiving Indira.
nice dish, never tried goat cheese, will do.
Comment by lakshmi — November 22, 2006 @ 11:45 am
Happy thanks giving 🙂
Comment by lavanya — November 22, 2006 @ 11:50 am
Looks yummy, will try this for sure 🙂
You posted this at the right time!(telepathy?!!)I have couple of boxes of the same pasta and wanted to try a different recipe!
Comment by hema — November 22, 2006 @ 2:15 pm
Never heard of goat cheese with red chilie. Looks great.
Comment by Madhavi — November 22, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
Hi Indira
I left a comment at my blog.Please do visit when you are free.
Cheers
Rajani
Comment by Rajani — November 23, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
Hi indira
I tried this recipe and it came out delicious!! I didnt have green chickpeas so I used edamame instead and since we eat non-veg, I threw in some shrimp while sauteing the onions/peppers to the sauce. Also, I used a different kind of goat cheese with basil and garlic from Central Market off Aurora/155th street. It came out really well.
If you decide to venture out of the city for a cool grocery store – check out Central Market in North Seattle and if you go further north on 99 you will run into Ranch 99 Market (another asian market like Uwajimaya).
More info on central market ….
http://shoreline.central-market.com/newSite/shoreline/home.php
More info on 99 Ranch Market
http://www.99ranch.com/Default.asp
Happy Thanksgiving!
Archana
Indira replies:
This recipe is very flexible, isn’t it? Glad to hear that you tried and liked this recipe, Archana.
I will definitely check out the places you’ve mentioned and many thanks for the suggestions/links.
and a (belated) Happy T’day to you and to your adorable twin darling babies!
Comment by archana — November 24, 2006 @ 4:27 pm
Cheese is always perfectly combined with pasta and emphasizes the subtleties of all the ingredients.
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