Rigatoni with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes and Olives
Goat cheese makes a wonderful sauce for heavy pastas like rigatoni and penne. This dish comes together in mere minutes and when served with warm crusty bread and a salad, it makes a very filling meal.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Boxed Rigatoni
- 1 pint Cherry or Grape Tomatoes, halved on the bias
- 1 t Kosher Salt
- ½-¾ C Pitted Kalamata Olives, halved on the bias
- 2 t Concentrated Pesto Paste or ½ C Fresh Basil Leaves, roughly torn or chiffonade
- 4-6 oz Goat Cheese (packages vary in size, just get what they have that’s around 5 oz or so)
- Freshly Cracked Black Pepper, to taste
- Kosher Salt, to taste
Instructions
- 1 Prepare The Pasta According To Package: Prepare the pasta according to package instructions, adding 3 T salt to the water. Reserve 1 C of hot cooking liquid when draining.
- 2 In The Meantime: In the meantime:
- 3 Toss The Tomatoes, Olives, Pesto And: Toss the tomatoes, olives, pesto and salt in a large bowl (do not add fresh basil if using). Crumble the goat cheese over the top and set aside until the pasta is done.
- 4 Add ⅓ C Of Reserved Cooking: Add ⅓ C of reserved cooking water to the tomato mixture and stir until smooth. The sauce should be fairly thin; add more water if needed.
- 5 Add The Rigatoni And Stir Until: Add the rigatoni and stir until evenly coated. Let it set 1 minute, then stir in black pepper to taste and adjust salt if needed. If the rigatoni has absorbed too much liquid and everything is getting pasty, add more liquid ¼ C at a time, stirring until the sauce has clung to the pasta. If using fresh basil, add it now.
Pro Tips & Delicious Variations
- You can heat the sauce until steaming, if you like your tomatoes cooked a little more than just from the heat of the pasta.
- The pasta will absorb a lot of the sauce so you want to be sure it is seasoned properly and is thinner than you would expect before adding the pasta. This may take some practice but once you get it right you’ll never get it wrong again!
- Pesto concentrate comes in a tube and is found in better grocery stores, along with tomato paste concentrate, but fresh basil is an excellent substitute. Regular pesto doesn’t offer the same flavors, but you can use 1 T and add more to taste.
- Goat cheese comes in packages from 4 to 14 ounces and more. If you have to get “too much” you can add more to the sauce, or use it in cookie and other recipes. It goes great crumbled on salads, served with fruit, folded into an omelette and, of course, added to your cheese platter. You can sneak it into almost anything, such as tacos or lasagna, and it will add an extra depth and surprise to your dish.