Pasta with Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Shrimp

in Goat cheese, Lighter & Healthier, Pasta, Seafood

Whole Wheat Pasta with Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Shrimp

I rarely walk into the kitchen without a plan. I’m just not a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-britches kinda girl. No shame in my game – I leave that stuff to the pros. Or to the far more creative and patient.

Sometimes the best meals are born out of hard work, research, and trial-and-error. The bookshelves full of cookbooks in the den proves that. Others are born on out of impulse, although I think “desperation” might be a more accurate description of what sometimes goes on around here.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Shrimp

How did the line from that movie go? You got kool-aid, no sugar; peanut butter, no jelly; ham, no burger…

Like quiche, pasta is one of those dishes that’s perfect to use up a random collection of leftover and seemingly mismatched ingredients. Like the one last tablespoon of butter that’s wrapped like a mummy in confetti-like scraps of its original paper, a slice of lemon that doesn’t have an accompanying glass of sweet tea, and a how-long-has-that-been-in-there bag of uncooked shrimp from the bottom of the freezer.

Voila! Dinner.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Shrimp

I feel like I should get a gold star – or better, a cookie – for quoting Chris Tucker and using the word “britches.” And all in the same post.

Pasta with Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Shrimp

Ingredients

  • 8 oz pasta (I used whole wheat spaghetti)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 8 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1 lemon wedge
  • 2 oz goat cheese
  • Chopped fresh parsley, for serving

Instructions

  1. Add pasta to a pot of boiling water and cook according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water before draining.
  2. Heat oil and butter over medium high heat in a saute pan. Add garlic and red pepper, stirring and cooking until garlic just begins to brown.
  3. Add sun-dried tomatoes and shrimp, cooking shrimp thoroughly. Turn off the heat. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedge and crumble the goat cheese over the hot shrimp.
  4. Add pasta to saute pan with a splash of the reserved pasta water. Toss until pasta is coated, adding more water to reach desired consistency.
  5. Divide between two bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

Notes

Yields: 2 servings

Source: The Brewer and The Baker

Estimated time: 30 minutes

23 comments… add one
  • I always have to have a plan too – your pasta dish looks fabulous!!

  • This pasta sounds really tasty! I always like it when last minute throw together meals turn out great like this!

  • That looks great. I love those kinds of creations.

  • This is exactly the kind of meal that I like. Plus, using up random bits of food is perfect!

  • This dish looks stunning!
    I’d definitely give you a gold star for this very inspired recipe 🙂 (they are the best ones always :))

  • Pasta/shrimp/tomatoes/goat cheese is one of my favorite improv meals too 🙂

  • Yum!! I’m definitely going to make this! We love cooking with shrimp – and I like the addition of goat cheese too

  • Sundried tomatoes and goat cheese is a winning combo, especially with shrimp! Looks fantastic!

  • This look so good! Goat cheese, shrimp, and sundried tomatoes are some of my favorite foods, so I know that I’d love this recipe! I love the idea of using goat cheese to make the sauce.

  • Goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes are two of my favorite ingredients – I’m sure your pasta was amazing!!

  • Sometimes my favorite meals are whipped up based on what we happen to have at the end of the week. This dish looks like something we’d enjoy!

  • Some of my favorite flavors to go with pasta here – delicious!

  • That really looks good! I think I gotta try that..

  • This looks great! I love goat cheese but I wouldn’t have paired sun dried tomatoes with shrimp, I will have to try it!

  • This looks so yummy! And your pictures are beautiful!

  • sara

    Looks like a good recipe to me. Simple recipes are always the best. I’m gonna try to add this to my regular list of pasta recipes.

  • Such a perfect dish, simple instructions, relatively easy to make not to mention positively delicious, the whole family adored it, appreciate it very much.

  • Ruby

    This is so Yummy! very similar to “Pasta Capri” from Cafe Express! except they add sauteed spinach. What can I use as a substitute for goat cheese? I dont like how it smells!

    • Hmm, if I weren’t adding goat cheese, I’d probably just add a little cream to the pasta so I wouldn’t lose the creaminess that the goat cheese – and then top with whatever cheese I had on hand.

  • Megan

    This is a great, easy dinner….and my husband loves it. Making it for the third time tonight!

  • Sonya

    I was very inspired by your recipe, but made a few changes by serving the goat cheese shrimp pasta over a bed of sauce (made from reconstituted sundried tomatoes), and topping the dish with avocado slices. The cool, creaminess of the avocado was a great paring to the tanginess of the goat cheese and tomatoes). A final sprinkling of cilantro and Cojita. Yum!

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