Comments on: Making a Good Thing Better

By: Ashley

Ashley — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:29:47 +0000

I’m the youngest and I’m definitely a rule follower too, my older brother not as much I think. I’ve started to get more comfortable straying from recipes but it’s definitely scary at first and things don’t always turn out well.. You did an amazing job with this dish! It sounds so flavourful.

By: Cate O'Malley

Cate O'Malley — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:36:54 +0000

Like you, I’m the oldest, but totally not always a rule follower. Sometimes, most of the time, just not always. :) The pasta looks like perfect comfort food for the Fall weather – yum!

By: Juliana

Juliana — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:25:46 +0000

Love the simplicity of the pasta…the goat cheese in it must be so yummie! And good tip about how you drain the pasta :-)

By: lisaiscooking

lisaiscooking — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:37:54 +0000

The goat cheese as sauce sounds fantastic! I love your idea of moving pasta straight from the pot to the skillet, and now I want a bigger slotted spoon to make it even easier.

By: fresh365

fresh365 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:38:44 +0000

This is right up my alley! Great idea to add the pasta water and make the goat cheese creamy.

By: D. @ Outside Oslo

D. @ Outside Oslo — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:48:14 +0000

This looks wonderful. Basil, olives and capers are some of my favorite flavors, and I look forward to trying this!

Thanks for sharing the tip on using tongs, too. Draining pasta is usually a dangerous task for me, unless I have my husband to help!

By: Allison Arevalo

Allison Arevalo — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:18:14 +0000

I am also an olive freak, and the black cured ones are at the top of my list too. I also love the BIG bright green ones – can’t remember the name of them.

Incredible pasta dish, with all my favorite things. I would probably add pecorino instead of goat cheese because that’s what I usually do, but I love that the goat cheese makes it creamy. I gotta try it.

By: Nurit - 1 family. friendly. food.

Nurit - 1 family. friendly. food. — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:39:23 +0000

I used to follow recipes as well until I had a few that did not work, or weren’t so good. As a personal chef I also stuck to the recipe to be able to give a consistent result to repeat dishes clients wanted me to make. But after a few years, I got bored with it as well as felt more confident in myself and what I’m doing. These days it’s a 50-50 deal for following a recipe vs. improvising with what I have in the house.

By: kickpleat

kickpleat — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:41:01 +0000

I’m a first born too and I do follow certain rules, but I feel recipes are meant to be toyed with! I don’t think I’ve ever followed a recipe exactly as written, so I like your approach here :) I also have stopped using a colander to drain my pasta and I just drain with the lid which keeps in enough liquid to help with the sauce. Great “recipe”!

By: Eralda

Eralda — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:23:07 +0000

Mmmmm…that looks so delicious. I am with you about the olives. Love them to death. And I am placing this on my make immediately list as well, mostly because it looks that good, and because I have a lot of goat cheese to make use of. Yum! Can’t wait.