Jamie Oliver Makes His First Appearance on Manic Monday

I'm not sure what the rest of you are doing for Manic Monday, but I'm serving up some fresh, hot leftovers. We had houseguests this weekend, and it always seems that when I have visitors, my refrigerator gets jam-packed with leftovers, which works out great, because the last thing you have time to do after a busy weekend is spend time in the kitchen cooking. So I'm taking a break from the kitchen today, and planting myself in the laundry room because I have LOTS of wash that needs attending.

But for those of you with the "bare-fridge blues", here's a wonderfully simple recipe from my favorite chef at the moment, Jamie Oliver. You can't go wrong with any of his recipes but this one in particular is tailor-made for Manic Monday. Now, the laundry is calling so I leave you with in Jamie's hands:

Baked Camembert Pasta by Jamie Oliver

8 oz. round of Camembert cheese (I haven't tried this with brie but I have a pretty good feeling that it would work just as well. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out.)

2 cloves of garlic

1 sprig fresh rosemary

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lb. dried rigatoni

6 cups (approx. 6 oz.) fresh spinach leaves

4 oz. Parmesan cheese

Preheat you oven to 350 degrees. 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 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 oil. Grate the Parmesan.

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 boil. When your cheese has 10 minutes left to cook, add the rigatoni to the pot and cook according to the package instructions. When the pasta is cooked, add the spinach to the pan- it only needs 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 pot and let it wilt. Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of extra virgin olive oil and add the grated Parm. If the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of a 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.