Julia's Lovely Broccoli & Goat Cheese Week Night Pasta Dinner

One word: YUM

This dish, my friends, was one of those lovely-food-for-your-taste-buds'-soul type of meals. So light, so creamy, so tasty!

I ate the whole pot. : )

Such a simple dish and healthy all at the same time (probably healthier if you share it...)

I got the idea from a Serious Eats recipe, but ended up just making my own version... Although the recipe below sounds just as wonderful.

What I read:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/dinner-tonight-pasta-with-broccoli-goat-chees.html

What I did: 

2 cups Campenelle Pasta 

2 cups of broccoli

1 cup of frozen peas

2 cloves of garlic, minced

4 T. Olive oil

Thyme

Salt & Pepper to taste

4-5 big T. of soft goat cheese (more if you prefer a creamier finish...

A couple tablespoons of pasta water

• Start this endeavor by boiling your pasta. Once it is cooked (al denté according to the packaging instructions), remove the pasta from the water, but KEEP THE WATER BOILING. Rinse your pasta under luke warm water and toss with 2 T. of olive oil to keep it from fusing permanently together while you finish cooking. 
• Now throw your broccoli heads into the boiling water and cook, approx. 5-6 minutes, until nice and bright, but also al denté. (Al denté basically means "ever so slightly under-cooked" for those who aren't familiar with the term...) Now remove your broccoli, and throw in your frozen peas for a heartbeat. And overcooked pea is a mushy mess, so really just cook these for about a minute and then remove. 
• Now that you've got cooked pasta, cooked broccoli, and cooked peas, set aside. In a large skillet, add 2 T. olive oil, and heat over medium heat. Toss in minced garlic, and cook lightly. You never want to burn garlic, so keep a close eye on it. After about 2 minutes of regular stirring, add your pasta and the 4-5 generous tablespoons of goat cheese to the skillet, as well as a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water from the pot. Let this melt together over the heat as you gently toss the pasta in this mixture, then throw in the broccoli and peas, and bring everything back up to a consistent temperature. (This can be most easily and quickly achieved by putting the pid on your skillet if you've got one...) 
• Once everything is stirred nicely together, season with salt, pepper, and a little chopped thyme to taste, and you're ready to go. You could also throw some grated parmesan over the whole thing if you wanted... 

Delicious!