Recipe Wednesday: Goal #58, Jamie Oliver’s Baked Camembert Pasta

Recipe Wednesday was inspired by the Youngrens, California photographers who cook, photograph, and post recipes on periodic Sundays.  Cooking good wholesome food is something that is very important to my wife and I so I’ve decided to start documenting our kitchen adventures.  You’ll see pictures and recipes from books that are quickly becoming our go-to guides.  Hopefully it can give you some ideas for your own kitchen.

Easy, peasy, pasta dish.  Not much more to say than that!

Baked Camembert Pasta

1 x 8 ounce box of Camembert cheese
2 cloves of garlic
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 pound dried rigatoni
6 cups (approximately 6 ounces) fresh spinach leaves
4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Open the box of cheese and unwrap it.  Place it back in the wooden container.  Score a circle into the top of the skin, then lift it off and discard.  Peel and finely slice the garlic.  Pick the rosemary leaves off the woody stalk.  Lay the garlic slices on the top of the cheese, sprinkle with some pepper and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil. Scatter over the rosemary leaves and gently pat with your fingers to coat them in the oil.  Place the box of cheese on a cookie sheet and put it into the preheated oven for 25 minutes, until golden and melted.


Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  When your cheese has 10 minutes left to cook, add the rigatoni to the pan and cook according to the package instructions.  When the pasta is cooked, add the spinach to the pan and cook according to the package instructions.  When the pasta is cooked, add the spinach to the pan–it only needs to cook for 10 seconds or so.  Drain the pasta and spinach in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water.  Return the pasta and spinach to the pan and let it wilt.  Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of extra virgin olive oil and add the grated Parmesan.  If the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of the reserved cooking water to thin it out a bit.  Season with salt and pepper and give it a good stir.  Remove the cheese from the oven.


Divide the pasta between your serving bowls.  Either drizzle the melted Camembert on top or pop the box of cheese on the table and let everyone help themselves to a lovely, gooey spoonful.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *