Baked Camembert Pasta

Camembert Cheese... I love it!!  Camembert is soft, creamy cow's milk cheese.  Maybe there are a lot of you out there that have never had it before.  If so, this is the time to try it.  Lucky for me, I found an 8 ounce wheel of it on sale for $3 (normally $5.99) while I was looking for Fontina cheese.  I was actually going to make a chipotle mac and cheese...but when I saw the Camembert, I just knew I had to make this pasta.  Guess the chipotle mac will have to wait :)

I saw a recipe for this about 2 years ago.  For the life of me, I cannot find and do not remember where the original recipe came from.  I did remember that Jamie Oliver had posted baked Camembert before, so I started there.  The one thing I do remember is reading through the recipe and thinking... oh, yea, this is definitely something I need to try.  And try it I finally did!  After having this fabulous dish, I'm sorry I waited so long to make it, but, I will admit, it was well worth the long years of waiting!!

This is simple, delicious, creamy, and well..just down right fan-frickin-tastic!  (If you can't find Camembert, I'm thinking you can probably use brie instead...though I'm not 100% certain on that, so don't try it, have it fail, and then blame me!)

Baked Camembert Pasta
Slightly adapted from Jamie Oliver
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1 box (8oz.) Camembert cheese wheel
2 gloves of garlic, minced
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves only
sea salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil
4oz grated parmesan cheese
2 1/2 cups Barilla Plus multigrain elbow pasta (or any tubular pasta will work)
1-2 cups (or more if you want) fresh spinach leaves
cherry tomatoes; quartered (optional)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Open the cheese and unwrap it.  Place in oven safe dish.  Score a circle in the top of the rind, leaving a border, then peel the rind off the top and discard.  Scatter the minced garlic on top, season with salt and pepper, and then drizzle with some olive oil.  Scatter the rosemary leaves on top and lightly press them into the oil and cheese.

Place in preheated oven and bake 25-30 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Drain; reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.  Once drained, add the spinach and stir to wilt.  Drizzle with some olive oil and add the parmesan cheese.  Once the Camembert is ready, spoon the cheese over the pasta.  I would suggest doing this with each serving as dumping it all in there may cause it to clump up.  If cheese is too thick, add a little pasta water to thin out.  Top with tomatoes if desired.  Enjoy!

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