Goat’s cheese and fennel rigatoni

This is a quick and extremely satisfying meal that me and mom knocked up out of what happened to be in her fridge on a day that we had been antiquing pretty rigorously. This is a very lazy yet highly impact dish which satisfies a need for both comfort and flavor. I’m pretty sure this could be improved upon with time and buggering about but sometimes you just need something delicious as close to now as possible.

The sauce
A head of fennel (head? Heart? Roughly chopped)
An onion (also roughly chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
A punnet of small tomatoes (half whole, half halved)
A teaspoon of tomato puré (we used red pesto)
Soft goats cheese (not much, about 30 grammes)
A big bunch of rocket
Olive oil

Begin softening your onions and fennel in the olive oil over medium heat. Don't stir too much in order to develop some brownness on the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic and continue this process until the onions and fennel begin to soften.
Take the zest from the lemon (in strips with a peeler) and the juice of the whole lemon and add both to the pan scraping the bottom with a wooden spatula (deglasing).
Add the tomato puré and cook it out for approximately the amount of time it takes to sing the parts of liability (by Lorde) that you remember (about two minutes) before adding the halved tomatoes and a sprinkling of salt.
When the tomatoes have started breaking down add a glug of water and turn the heat to low. Allow this to cook for around 15 minutes.
Roughly chop your rocket. Add your rocket and goats cheese at the last minute.

The pasta
Rigatoni (a handful and a half)
Salt water (as salty as the sea)

Boil it, but not for too long. Keep it al dente
Drain your pasta (no rinsing)

Stir your sauce in to the pasta (or pasta into your sauce) possibly serve with a rocket salad, if you can summon up the effort, Otherwise just put it in a bowl and enjoy.

Comments

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