Sunday, December 28, 2008

Goat Cheese and Bell Pepper Pasta

Mmm- it looks pretty good, huh? I didn't have a Cherry Tomato to make it look more beautiful, so I just sucked all the sauce off some of the Bell Peppers and arranged them for a garnish. (Hey- it was my plate, I can do what I want!)
Basic Recipe: Chicken with olive oil and salt and pepper, sauteed with lemon juice. Added mushrooms, a tiny bit of sun-dried tomatoes, and a red bell pepper and a yellow bell pepper. Added lots of garlic. And then some lime juice (because I was out of lemon, and I thought it needed more.) Added some Tarragon. Added a bit of cream, reduced it, and then added some Chevre goat cheese to melt in. Added more cream for sauce-like consistency and served with Penne.
Ratings: Everyone gave it a Six. They thought the peppers were really good (which was the point, as I built the whole pasta to bring out the pepper flavor, so I did that well.) but that the goat cheese made a weird texture. The goat cheese doesn't melt really smoothly, and it kindof coats your mouth, which is a bit of a required taste.
My Rating: Probably a Six-and-a-Half. It needs a bit of tweaking. It didn't have enough goat cheese, and I am not sure I liked the cream-based sauce. I will try it again with a lemon butter. Another possible idea is to serve it as Chicken. Chicken, covered with the sauce and veggies, and then add a smear of goat cheese on top. Probably would have been better. But I did like it quite a bit. More than anyone else did. I was impressed that the main flavor was the bell peppers. Everything just really brought out that flavor.

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