Pasta is tossed with good olive oil, goat cheese, olives and fresh herbs to make an easy and tasty dinner.

We had some left over olives and goat cheese from our dinner with Stephen.  Instead of eating it or tossing it out, I tucked it away in the fridge, to do something with.  Last week we had a late evening of work and gym and this hidden treasure came in perfectly.

The olives were seasoned perfectly with fresh herbs and lemon zest, all that was left was a tad bit more seasoning.  I love browned garlic over a fresh steamy bowl of pasta, so I decided to thinly slice some garlic and make garlic chips.  I gently cooked them with olive oil and few red pepper flakes.  While the garlic was cooking I cooked some pasta.  One the pasta was finished all I had to do was drain it, toss in the left over olives and goat cheese, sprinkle the garlic chips over and give the dish a light drizzle of good olive oil ~ a quick, easy and incredibly tasty dinner in under 20 minutes!    The combination of the tangy but creamy goat cheese went very well with the fresh lemon zest, the salty olives and the spicy red pepper.

Recipe:  Pasta with Olives, Goat Cheese and Garlic Chips

2 oz mixed olives

handful of fresh herbs – we used rosemary and thyme

lemon zest

2 cloves of garlic, thinly slices

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon olive oil

pasta

good olive oil

Cook pasta according to directions, reserve about 1/4 cup of cooking liquid.   Heat olive oil in a frying pan and good garlic with red pepper flakes until crispy and golden brown.  Toss pasta with reserved cooking liquid, olives, goat cheese, herbs, zest crispy garlic and drizzle over a small amount of good olive oil.  Serve.  Eat.