Recipe: Pasta with green beans & blue cheese

After all those vacation blog posts, this week, we are back on track to the regular programme. And that means it’s time for another food blog and this time I have super delicious, yet easy and quite cheap recipe for you. I have been making this for years. It was a dish I found in a student cookbook my mom bought me when I first moved out and I have been making it ever since. I have changed it up from the original though and so this is my take on pasta with green beans & blue cheese.

Pasta is one of my favorite foods. I love how you can come up with so many different combinations and it’s easy to make it vegetarian which is what this dish is. The original recipe calls for binding the sauce, but I figured that if I use cooking cream and cheese, the sauce may be a bit runny, but the flavor would be much fuller and creamy which goes better with the pasta. I added some leek and bell pepper to round out the veggies and you can top this with roasted walnut if you’d like. I forgot to do that when I took these pictures, but they make a tasty topping.

Total time: 30 minutes. Prep time: 10 minutes. Cooking time: 20 minutes. Serves 2 – 4.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams penne pasta (I used kamut for this)
• 250 ml creme fraiche
• 1 small leek
• 1 green bell pepper
• 200 grams green beans
• handful of mushrooms (optional)

No special pots or pans needed: a pan to boil the pasta. veggies and a large skillet with a high edge will do. Add any flavorings you fancy. I like adding dried basil, oregano and pepper. Olive oil and garlic are good to have on hand as well.

Step 1: Cut up your veggies and wash them.

Step 2: After you have cut up and cleaned your beans you need to boil them for 5 minutes.

Step 3: Drain the beans and set them aside. You can use the same pan for boiling your pasta.

Step 4: Put some olive oil in your skillet and after it is warmed up add some garlic for extra flavor. Now sautee your leeks, beans and peppers until they are done.

Step 5: I had some mushrooms left over from another dish and figured, since I didn’t have the walnuts for garnishing, they would be a good addition to the dish. I chopped some up and added them too.

Step 6: Add your seasoning.

Step 7: Add creme fraiche and blue cheese. Wait for everything to melt and make sure no cheese lumps are left.

Step 8: Keep stirring until you get a smooth even sauce.

And that should be your finished result. It’s a quick recipe that is really easy to make. Granted, you have to like blue cheese for this dish to be a success and because of that strong cheesy flavor your dish won’t need too much extra flavor. Especially be careful with adding salt if that is a regular thing for you, the cheese already has a high salt contend. So definitely give this a taste before you add anything more.

Bon appetit! What’s your favorite pasta dish?