Fettuccine with Escarole & Brie

…and we’re back! Sues was obviously busy, busy, busy with wedding and family stuff this week. And I actually temporarily lost my camera the night of the wedding so I forgot how to function in life! No matter how hard I tried it was pretty hard to get myself to get the camera off my mind. I hate getting like that over material goods that can be replaced but I was sad thinking about the photos that were “lost.” But good news, it was found! So now with it back in my life and the wedding festivities coming to an end… we’re getting back on track with my new favorite meal :)

 

The other night I decided since two of my best friends would be at my place at the same time that I’d make dinner for them. And the previous evening I was reading eatliverun and Jenna had this really great looking dinner, Fettuccine with Escarole & Brie from Food and Wine, that I was dying to make for anyyyyone ! Melis had the day off from work so we actually spent the whole afternoon together. Then Kate stopped by when she got out of work to drop off my birthday gift (more on this later… cause it’s lovely!) This is a really quick (took less than 30 minutes) and relatively inexpensive recipe which makes me like it even better and my favorite thing is you can definitely switch things up as much as you’d like to create a new dish… I’ve since made a similar version and added some corn!

Here’s what you’ll need:

ingredients

• 3/4 pound fettuccine (I like to use al dente brand of pastas, which I get at Whole Foods, because they cook in 3 minutes!)

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 ounces thinly sliced pancetta or bacon, coarsely chopped (I used pancetta)

• 1 large garlic clove, minced

• 1 shallot, minced

• 1 pound escarole, cut into 1-inch ribbons

• Salt and ground pepper

• 1/2 pound Brie wedge, rind removed and then cut into 1 inch pieces 

brie

Here’s what you do:

• Cook  and drain your fettuccine being sure to reserve about 1 1/4 cups of the cooking water. 

• In a large skillet heat olive oil. Add pancetta and cook over high heat stirring for about 2 minutes until lightly browned.  Add garlic and shallot and cook for an additional minute… this smelled so good I wanted to jump into the skillet ;)  

bacon, shallots, garlic

• Next, you’re going to add the escarole, season with salt and pepper, and stir until the escarole is just wilted. 

escarole, pancetta

escarole

• Add the pasta to the skillet with 1 cup of reserved water.

fettuccine with escarole

 • Add the 1-inch pieces of brie. Continue to toss the pasta until the brie has melted nicely and the sauce is creamy (about 4 minutes). If you feel the sauce is a little dry, add a little more of the reserved cooking water from the pasta. 

brie melting

I’m sort of kicking myself now because the kitchen smelled so good our mouths were watering and we were all so hungry that we gobbled up our dinner before I could photograph the final plate… so here it is in the skillet ;)

fettuccine with escarole and brie

This was delicious and was a big hit with the girls! Whoever thought of melting brie over pasta is absolutely brilliant! Like I said earlier, this is a great dish to sort of adapt to any mood you’re in. Add any veggies or even experiment with other cheeses. This also tasted really great as leftovers too… it would be a great lunch to bring to work the following day. It actually sort of reminded me of a more summery and lighter version of the Pasta with Sausage, basil and Mustard dish I made back in March, which was my go to dish this past winter! 

[Chels]

12 Comments

  • Julie Q said:

    oooooo this actually looks doable (for me) which means for 11 yr olds + :) can’t wait to try this one!

    September 10, 2009 11:24 am
  • Karen said:

    OMG this looks amazing! I think I will trying escarole for the first time very soon thanks to this recipe!

    September 10, 2009 12:02 pm
  • Karena said:

    Yuuuuuum! Love brie! I don’t think I’ve ever cooked escarole before…mostly b/c I don’t know what to do with it. Now I do! :)

    September 10, 2009 1:20 pm
  • Any pics are great, and this looks so good. Mouth watering it is!

    September 10, 2009 3:09 pm
  • katelin said:

    um this looks amazing! seriously i need to try making this.

    September 10, 2009 7:39 pm
  • Shannon said:

    ooh, the creamy brie must melt into the pasta–sounds like a winner :)

    September 10, 2009 11:01 pm
  • Naomi said:

    This looks so good, my stomach was growling just looking at the pictures!! All of the recipes on here look amazing….keep up the good work, ladies!!

    September 11, 2009 11:57 am
  • Dish Gal said:

    this looks insanely good!!!!!

    September 14, 2009 4:37 pm
  • stephanie said:

    i made this tonight because i was drooling over the pictures. no fault to your recipe, but it was awful. i used a sour-tasting (cheap) brie, and combined with the escarole, it was a complete disaster. i’ve never made anything inedible before. :( make sure you use a brie you know is on the sweeter side!! i would use goat cheese if i decided to try again.

    September 14, 2009 8:26 pm
  • Bren said:

    loooove brie, though I’ve never melted it into food! grilled on bread, yes!
    nice to find your blog! :)

    September 15, 2009 9:51 pm
  • Chels said:

    Stephanie! Bummer that yours didn’t come out the way it should have! We all loved it and will definitely be making it again… you definitely have to buy good brie though, I just got mine at Whole Foods and it wasn’t even expensive. Pretty positive it makes all the difference! Goat cheese would probably be good too though, let us know if you ever try it out!

    September 16, 2009 10:56 am

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