Your Daily Dish: Creamy Spinach and Ricotta Pasta

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True-blue Pastafarians, we ignored all the Carbaphobian warnings and continued to buy bulk- size boxes. No one was going to scare us away from the luscious white noodles – long and short, hollow and swirled. This is our nirvana, Mon… let’s all delight in this creamy dish of tender pasta paired with subtle ricotta cheese, mellow baby spinach and sharp, tangy Parmesan.

Ingredients

1 lb fusilli pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
8 cups baby spinach leaves, stemmed and cut into 1/2-inch strips
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
11/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp finely sliced fresh basil leaves

Directions

1) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Stir in pasta and cook until tender. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water drain pasta well.

2) In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add spinach, salt and pepper. Cook until spinach just begins to wilt, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in ricotta cheese, half- and-half and the reserved pasta water. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Add cooked pasta and Parmesan cheese, stirring until well blended. Garnish with basil and serve immediately.

Serves 6-8

Bite me Bit: “Pattycake, pattycake, Pasta Man. Gimme pasta power as fast as you can.”-Mario and Luigi, ‘The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!’

Need more iron? Dig into Popeye’s favorite, delectable and easy Steakhouse Creamed Spinach recipe

 

 

Whether it’s cruising the aisles at the Dollar Store or experimenting at the stove, we believe that every day can be a holiday.