spelt fettucine w hazelnuts & goats curd

First, I want to say just how disappointed I was when I saw how my photos came out. My friend was playing with my camera settings and I was too stupid to think to reset them before I snapped away last night. When I downloaded them this morning I saw my mistake! Too grainy.

But onto the food!

This idea came to me when I was flicking through a magazine and misread the pages, amalgamating two recipes into one. Genius!

Hazelnut and goats cheese seem to go so well together. I used Woodside Cheese Wright's goats curd, but you could use a soft chevre instead if you wanted a bit more kick. Curd tends to have a milder flavour.

I decided to use wholemeal or spelt pasta and spinach to add some colour and make it a bit more healthy.

Spelt (also cutely known as dinkel) is a very old grain used by Europeans from the Bronze Age until the Medieval period. There's even evidence of spelt being used 5000 BCE. It's low in gluten so it's a good substitute for those with mild intolerances, although not those with wheat allergies ie coeliacs because it still contains gluten.

Overall it's a mild dish, but it's creamy and nutty in flavour. It would be nice as the start to a summer meal.

Spelt Fettucine w Hazelnuts & Goats Curd
Anna's very own recipe. Serves 2.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup crushed roasted hazelnuts
200g spelt fettucine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon hazelnut oil
baby spinach leaves, washed
250g goats curd
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Method:
1. While the pasta water is boiling, gently heat the olive oil and garlic in a pan. The idea is to heat the oil and infuse it with a gentle garlic flavour so you don't want to deep fry the slices into garlic chips or they'll impart bitterness into the oil.
2. When the oil is warm and taken on a garlic flavour, remove the garlic slices (although I guess you could keep them if you want).
3. You'll probably need to add the pasta into the water at this point.
4. Add the crushed hazelnuts and heat them up too. Watch them carefully as they brown but don't let them burn.
5. Add hazelnut oil. Keep warm but not sizzling.
6. Drain pasta when ready and return to pot.
7. Add oil and nuts. Stir through.
8. Add spinach and stir through. Spinach will wilt in the heat of the pasta so no need to precook.
9. Season with plenty of salt and pepper then divide into serving dishes.
10. Add dollops of goats curd on top of pasta. Guests can mix it through themselves.

This is my contribution to Presto Pasta Night, which it seems I only manage to join every second week.

Fridays are my busy day. Too much fun, fun, fun.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes main course pasta fettucine goats curd spinachspelt hazelnutpresto pasta nights pasta recipes fettucine recipes hazelnut recipes goats curd recipes spinach recipes spelt recipes