Recipe
Cottage Cheese Pasta with Dulse & Lemon
Dulse works beautifully in pasta, bringing a naturally savoury, slightly smoky character that sits surprisingly well with creamy sauces and bright citrus. Here, it’s paired with cottage cheese for a quick, velvety sauce, fresh spinach and plenty of lemon to keep everything balanced. Finished with toasted pine nuts and parmesan, this is an easy weeknight pasta that also happens to be a very approachable way to cook with seaweed for the first time.
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the pack until al dente. Before draining, reserve 2–3 tablespoons of pasta water.
- While the pasta cooks, blanch the dulse in boiling water for around 3 minutes until softened, then transfer immediately to ice water. The dulse may briefly turn brown in hot water, but will regain its purple colour after cooling. Drain well and roughly chop into smaller pieces.
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat for a few minutes until golden, then set aside.
- In a large frying pan, combine the cooked pasta, reserved pasta water, cottage cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, spinach and softened dulse. Stir over low heat until the spinach has wilted and the cottage cheese begins to coat the pasta into a creamy sauce. Cover briefly with a lid if needed to help the spinach soften.
- Season with salt and black pepper, then stir through the lemon zest and parmesan.
- Divide between bowls and finish with toasted pine nuts, extra parmesan and an extra crack of black pepper.
