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YOU GUYS, lemony spinach and artichoke brie penne pasta today, I am so excited.

Watch the How To Video Here:

I am aware this pasta is kind of an indulgent Wednesday recipe, but it is SO worth it! And very spring inspired, thanks to all that spinach and lemon and those delicious artichokes. Oh my gosh, it’s just so good, talking about it, and staring at these photos, is making me think I need to recreate this recipe (for the fourth time in a matter of weeks) for dinner tonight. This really is just THAT good.

But then, what on Earth could not be loved here? Pasta? Lemon? Spinach? Artichokes? BRIE?! All good on their own, but combine everything together in a pasta dish?

Perfection.

Do you guys remember on Monday how I mentioned I has having some hard days the other week? Well, this pasta is the result of those hard days. Like most people, I totally crave comfort food when I stress. My comfort foods are kind of odd in that a lot of them are super healthy. I’m talking roasted veggies, fresh fruit, and tons of avocado. <–the foods I live off of most weekdays when recipe testing is not happening.

Along with those super healthy things though, I also love pasta and cheese. I mean, DUH…it’s pasta and cheese. Yes, please! Plus, I was raised by a mom who could live solely off of pasta. My mom loves pasta more than anyone I know, and could eat it simply with butter and salt every day for the rest of her life (while you might have to add some bread in there too). It’s her favorite.

Anyway, I decided I would combine all MY favorites and make one cheesy, buttery, and veggie filled pasta. Again, I know it maybe sounds indulgent, but hey, there is spinach and artichokes in here…so it’s totally healthy. Right? right!

The secret to this pasta, I mean aside from the brie (oh the brie!), is the olive oil/garlic/artichoke situation. Instead of just tossing everything together, first cook the garlic and artichokes separately in olive oil. Slow cooking the garlic in olive oil, along with the pine nuts, crushed red pepper flakes, and artichokes, allows the garlic to caramelize and infuse the olive oil with serious, but subtle garlic flavors. And while the garlic slowly caramelizes, the artichokes are frying in the olive oil, getting just slightly crisp on the edges. Yep, it’s the KEY to this recipe.

I’ve found with a lot of artichoke recipes that the artichokes just kind of fall to the wayside and are more on the bland side. But cooking them in olive oil and getting them a little crisp makes all the difference. Honestly, if you guys have never tried cooking the artichokes in oil first, you have to do it now. It is a game changer.

The rest of the recipe goes as follows: boil the pasta, toss it with the brie to melt, then add the artichokes and lots of fresh lemon, and DONE. Dinner in thirty minutes and it’s probably one of the best you’ll make all week. <– for real.

Oh, and if you guys didn’t already realize this, I clearly love the combo of spinach, artichokes and brie. Example one, two, three, and four. Can you blame me though?

Wednesday night, cheesy pasta. YES!