Goat cheese, bacon, squash, arugula pasta recipe

I made this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious, I just had to share with you! It’s super easy and total comfort food. I hope you like it as much as we did.

INGREDIENTS

Pasta, 1 lb, any kind will do

Bacon, 1/2 – 1 lb bacon

Goat cheese 5 oz
Costco has a great deal on this. You can get two Goat Cheese logs (10 oz each) for under $7.

Diced Squash
I used yellow crook neck but I think you could use any variety you have

Sliced Mushrooms
I prefer Crimini because they are a little meatier than white mushrooms

Diced onion

Arugula
It’s like a peppery lettuce, you can find it in the salad mixes

DIRECTIONS

1.) Dice up your bacon and fry it up in a big pan (you’ll use this pan to cook the whole dish)

2.) While your bacon is cooking, get a pot of salted water boiling for your pasta

3.) Set bacon aside, I put mine on some paper towels to soak up the grease

4.) Throw diced onion and sliced mushrooms into pan with bacon grease (hey, I didn’t say it was healthy!). Saute.

5.) Once onion and sliced mushrooms are getting carmelized, add squash and saute

6.) When pasta is boiling, take about 1 cup of pasta water and set aside

7.) When pasta is almost done, strain the pasta

8.) Add cooked pasta into pan with mushrooms and onion. Add bacon. Add your goat cheese (you can crumble it up beforehand). Add Arugula. Mix, mix, mix, while the burner is still on a low-medium heat. The goat cheese should melt and get creamy. If you want to make it saucier – add some of the pasta water and keep stirring. Start with a little and add more as needed, you don’t want it too watery.

As with most of my recipes – add more of what you like, less of what you don’t. I think there are a lot of vegetables that would go well with this dish – green peas, asparagus, spinach, red peppers – just use whatever veggies you have on hand. I also think it would be good if you didn’t add the arugula into the pasta, but rather put the pasta dish on a bed of arugula. Either way, I think it will taste good!

My disclaimer :: I created this recipe based loosely on this recipe Squash, Bacon, and Goat Cheese Pasta with Basil, I’m no Martha Stewart – so try it at your own risk! 🙂 Let me know if you substitute something, I’d love to hear about other ways to make this.

Here are some other recipes I’ve posted in the past: