Post sponsored by Barilla. See below for more details.
Before spring starts to show, I wanted to share one last cozy pasta meal. This lentil rotini pasta features easy garlicky kale, a no-cook goat cheese sauce, and Barilla Red Lentil Rotini. The spirals in the rotini are perfect for soaking up that saucy-goodness!
All the Greens
When it comes to greens, I’m constantly swapping different ones in and out of recipes. One of the reasons I love recipes like this is because it’s forgiving. Happen to have chard or collards on hand? Those would work just as well.
I’ve also been known to make a similar pasta and add roasted cauliflower, broccoli, and/or sweet potatoes as a replacement or in addition to the greens.
Goat Cheese: love it or leave it
I love goat cheese and I’m not shy about my love. However, I know that it’s not everyone’s favorite cheese. This pasta can work well with any softer-type cheese. Cream cheese or farmers cheese would work as well.
Vegan? Yes!
Never fear, vegan friends. You can easily make this vegan. I like to use my favorite cashew cream or sunflower cream with a little bit of onion powder, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast in place of the goat cheese sauce.
Barilla’s Red Lentil Rotini Pasta
When I was writing my cookbook on grinding flour, one of the biggest surprises came when working with red lentil flour. It’s such a good, protein-solid flour. Because of this, I’m not surprised to see this great, one-ingredient Red Lentil Rotini from Barilla. You can find this and all the other varieties of the new Barilla legume pastas on Amazon.
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PinIngredients
Pasta
4 ounces red lentil rotini
Kale
1 tablespoons ghee
3 cups shredded kale
1 garlic clove, minced
Sauce
4 ounces soft goat cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Crushed red pepper, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the ghee followed by the kale. Let cool, stirring occasionally, until the kale is starting to wilt. Stir in the minced garlic and a pinch of salt. Let cook for another minute or two, until the garlic is golden and the kale has softened.
- To make the pasta, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the Red Lentil Rotini and cook until al dente, 7 to 8 minutes. Drain and return the pasta back to the pot.
- Finally, in a blender, combine the goat cheese, milk, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Puree until smooth, adding a splash more milk if needed to thin the sauce.
- Combine the kale with the pasta and the goat cheese sauce. Toss until well combined and serve, with a sprinkle of crushed red pepper, while still warm.
Notes
Leftover pasta will need a little more liquid as it reheats- the sauce really soaks up into the pasta.
Keywords: lentil rotini
Disclosure: This recipe was created in partnership with Barilla. All thoughts and opinions are my own. It’s content like this that helps me keep this site running to provide the vegetarian recipes you see every week.
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Jill says
This looks delicious! Cannot wait to make.
(PS – I think you may have mentioned the wrong pasta within the recipe instructions.)