Linguine With Onion Confit, Goat Cheese, and Walnuts

Submitted by Stephanie Y.

"This is a rich pasta that uses very little oil or cheese. Recipe from Fields of Greens: New Vegetarian Recipes from the Celebrated Greens Restaurant."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 2-4

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced, about 4 cups
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1⁄4 cup dry white wine
• 1⁄2 lb fresh linguine
• 1⁄3 cup chopped fresh basil, about 20 leaves
• 3 tablespoons walnut pieces, toasted
• 1 ounce soft fresh goat cheese or 1 ounce gorgonzola

directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a wide skillet.
2. Add the onions and 1/2 teaspoons salt; saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the onion begin to soften and release their juices.
3. Add the garlic and continue to cook over medium heat, gently scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to keep the onions from sticking as they caramelize.
4. After 40 minutes, the onions should be a rich golden color and very sweet.
5. At this point, add the wine to deglaze the pan and simmer over low heat.
6. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
7. Chop or break the toasted walnuts into pieces with your hands.
8. When the water is boiling, add 1 teaspoon salt and the linguine and cook until tender, about 1 minute.
9. Just before draining the pasta, add 1/4 cup of the cooking water to the confit. (This will make the sauce juicier without adding more oil.)
10. Immediately drain the pasta, then add it to the confit along with the walnuts and basil.
11. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few pinches of pepper.
12. Crumble in the cheese and serve immediately.

Reviews

[Adina Cappell]

I used egg fettuccine and shallots, along with Soledad's goat cheese (infused with olives, garlic,and fresh herbs) http://www.yelp.com/biz/soledad-goats-los-angeles from the South Pasadena farmer's market. It was so delicious!!

 

[septfair]

I really enjoyed this as I suspected I would. When I was reading the recipe I could not wait to get to the store to buy what was needed and get to cooking. I followed the recipe but added a bit of frozen chopped spinach. I used the blue cheese and the flavors were perfect. Thank you so much for sharing!! Nothing like a good recipe to make you feel inspired.

 

[Maito]

This was a great pasta. We tried this with goat and blue cheese (separately). The blue cheese was strong enough to hold its own, but we thought that more goat cheese was needed. We would also love a higher sauce to pasta ratio (more like french tart's picture). My onions were done after about 30 minutes on low. Thanks for this yummy recipe.

 

[Kumquat the Cats fr]

We both really loved this, and on top of that it's relatively low fat! Instead of 8 ounces linguine I just used 6 ounces spaghetti (wanted to use up leftovers) and instead of walnuts I used slivered almonds (again, it's just what I happened to already have in the cupboard). I used a garlic and herb chevre, and fresh basil which I really love. I also served this with a salad. Will be making this again, thanks cookiedog!

 

[French Tart]

If there were 10 stars, this would have been 10 stars for me!! It was perfect - great combination of flavours - I tweaked it a tiny weeny bit, I used chevre and blue cheese & it was great with the two cheeses! Wonderful recipe which I will keep! Thanks cookiedog for posting this. P.S. I had NO fresh basil, so I used dried basil - it worked out fine!