Creamy Penne with Blue Cheese and Arugula
Over the past few years I have grown to love blue cheese, and I always bookmark savory recipes using it, like this one for Creamy Penne with Blue Cheese, Arugula, and Toasted Walnuts from the blog Bev Cooks. Blue Cheese can be sharp and salty, and arugula is a delicate green yet peppery and pungent. I love these two ingredients together so I knew this would be a great pasta dish - minus the walnuts. I'm one of those people who isn't a fan of fruit or nuts in my savory dishes. It WAS a great dish, and I'm so glad I had leftovers to enjoy for lunch today.
Adding garlic to this dish works well. Cooking time on this is as long as it takes you to boil a pot of water, cook penne, and mix with the sauce. So maybe 20-25 minutes max. Perfect for a quick and easy dinner.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound penne pasta
- 4 cups arugula
- 1 Tbs. butter
- Add: 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup reduced-fat milk (I used 1.5 cups light cream)
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
- coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (I love a lot of freshly ground black pepper in this dish)
Directions (in my own words)
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente, drain, set aside.
- Melt butter in a large saute pan. Add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes.
- Add cream and bring to a simmer. Mix in the blue cheese and whisk until creamy, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Add pasta and toss.
- Add arugula and toss until wilted.
