Lemon and Blue Cheese Pasta Sauce

I recently acquired some lemon thyme from my foster mum Jose, who had been growing some in her garden. It smelled amazing but I had no idea what to do with it so I just made something up. I have no idea where you would buy lemon thyme, but google reliably informs me that you can substitute it for regular thyme and lemon juice. This recipe is already pretty lemon-y so if you do substitute just use normal thyme instead and don't increase the amount of lemon juice. If you aren't that fond of lemon you may want to just use the juice or the rind and not both. This recipe give an easy, cheesy pasta sauce. I find that often blue cheese pasta sauce recipes contain heavy cream, which is awesome in taste, but which makes me feel bloated and a bit ill. So I decided to try and make a pasta sauce without cream but with enough liquid. I was very pleased with how this turned out. I used mushrooms but you could easily substitute for some other vegetable such as spinach.

Serves 2

2 cloves garlic
300g mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon vegetable bouillon/stock
1 tbsp fresh lemon thyme (can easily substitute with normal thyme, if using dried, use 1 tsp)
dash wine (optional)
rind and juice from 1/2 a lemon
70g blue cheese (more if you want a thicker, more cheesy sauce)
160 - 200g pasta (depending on how carby you like your dinner)

1. Chop/slice/crush garlic (depending on your preferences and kitchen utensils) and fry in oil.

2. Meanwhile, chop the mushrooms and add to the pan, along with the lemon thyme. Fry on a medium heat until the mushrooms start to reduce, then add the stock and a dash of wine (optional).

 3. Meanwhile, grate and juice the lemon into a dish, roughly chop the blue cheese and add to the lemon along with a glug (around 1 tbsp) of olive oil.

4. Boil a pan of water, add some olive oil and salt, and cook pasta. You can use any shape pasta - I chose tagliatelle.

5. Once the pasta is cooked, drain, and return to the pan. Turn off the heat, and add the mushrooms, being careful not to add all the mushroom juice (otherwise the sauce will be too liquid). Then add the blue cheese and lemon. Stir thoroughly until the blue cheese has completely melted - this will give the sauce a nice thickness.

6. Season with salt and black pepper to your tastes, and serve.