I know, another goat cheese recipe, but it was on sale this week and I couldn’t help myself. This dish was based on a recipe from Real Simple, but I simply couldn’t discard the Swiss chard stems as the original recipe suggested. I also wanted to use whole wheat pasta, and then I decided to add some Parmesan cheese as well. Next thing I knew, this became a different dish entirely.

I think Swiss chard is one of my favorite greens, and complements pasta well because it has just a little more bite than spinach. Unfortunately, the goat cheese got lost in the shuffle in this dish. I could taste the cheese, but missed the fluffy texture. Next time I would skip the Parmesan, and add the goat cheese as a garnish only. This is a great recipe if you’ve got a lot of Swiss chard from your CSA!

1 T olive oil
1 large bunch Swiss chard (12-15 large leaves)
2 c. dry whole wheat pasta, boiled and drained with cooking water reserved
2 oz. goat cheese
2 T Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Wash Swiss chard and separate leaves from stems. Chop the stems into 1″ pieces, and saute in olive oil for 10 minutes, or until softened. Tear the leaves into pieces, add them to the pan, and cook for 5 minutes, or until leaves are tender. Add 2 T reserved pasta water, cooked pasta, and goat cheese to the pan and stir to mix. Remove from heat and garnish with Parmesan.

• Main Dishes