Week 17, Recipe 2: Baked Camembert Pasta

Phew!  Three weeks since I cooked solo!  It's been a crazy month!  Anyway, as soon as I saw this recipe in the November issue of Food Network magazine courtesy of Jamie Oliver I knew I HAD to make it!  Looks impressive but the recipe is also dumb simple!


- a box of Camembert Cheese
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, pick the leaves off the woody stalk (I used dried)
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
- 4 oz. grated parmesan cheese
- 1 lb. dried rigatoni
- 6 oz. fresh spinach (I used one bunch but probably could've used 2 or 1 bag)

(serves 4-6)

1. Open the box of cheese and unwrap it. Place it back to the wooden container
2. Score a circle into the top of the skin, then lift it off and discard.
3. Lay the garlic slices on top of the cheese, sprinkle some pepper and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil.
4. Scatter the rosemary leaves over the top and gently pat with your fingers to coat them in the oil.
5. Bake the cheese in a preheated oven at 350 for about 25 minutes, until golden and melted.
6. When the cheese has 10 minutes left to cook, add the pasta to the pan and cook according to packet instructions.
7. When the pasta is cooked, add the spinach to the pan – it only needs cooking for 10 seconds or so.
8. Drain the pasta and spinach to the pan and let it wilt.
9. Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of extra virgin olive oil and add the grated Parmesan. If the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of reserved cooking water to thin out a bit. Season with salt and pepper and give it a good stir.
10. Remove the cheese from the oven. Divide the pasta between your serving bowls. Either drizzle the melted Camembert on top or pop cheese on the table and let everyone help themselves to a lovely, gooey spoonful.

Results: YUM!  I definitely wanted more spinach but this was very good!  I might add meat &/or serve it with something else next time.  The cheese clumps on you after a while out of the oven so you'll want to get it to the table almost immediately.  It was less gooey than I wanted.