Entree/ Pasta/ Uncategorized

Lemon Ricotta Pasta & Spinach

Easy peazy meatless meal!

We love our meats. Whether it’s chicken, pork, beef, fish or  or even game like quail, rabbit or venison we want it grilled, bbqd, or roasted as part of any delicious recipe we might find surfing online or something GA might find on YouTube. He watches a lot of grilling and bbqing shows so he is always coming up with something with a little different twist from the norm.

We do occasionally eat a meatless meal; sometimes it is all vegetables and sometimes it is a good pasta dish. Since I have pantry full of different shapes of pasta that I can’t seem to stop myself from buying, I always have the urge to look up a new pasta recipe. That’s when I came across this recipe from theclevermeal.com website and I just knew we would love it. This dish could always be served with some grilled or roasted meat but it’s great on its own and it is so quick and easy to make.

The night I made this I happened to have a “bagged” salad (gasp!). The salad was a hot and spicy one and it went well with the pasta. I know, I know, those bagged salads are not suppose to be that great but this one happened to be fresh and handy so it made its way onto our plates.

I almost forgot the lemon slices on the side and the squirt of lemon over pasta gave it a little zing. I did add a little more crushed red pepper than she called for but we like things hot around here.

Hope you give this a try sometime when you want a ver quick dish to throw together.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: These Apple Fritters are a great fall dessert.

Very simple dish to throw together.

After cooking the pasta you add the spinach the last minute and then drain in colander.

Add in the ricotta mixture and the crushed red pepper. I added maybe 1 teaspoon to my pasta.

Stir and you may need to add some of the reserved pasta liquid to make the sauce the right consistency you want.

Very delicious and fast to prepare.

Lemon Ricotta Pasta & Spinach

Ingredients

  • 8 oz. pasta spaghetti, linguine, penne
  • 1 c. whole milk ricotta
  • 8 oz. fresh baby spinach washed, stemmed
  • 1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese extra for serving
  • 1 lemon zest and juice
  • 3 lemon wedges for garnish
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil plus extra for drizzling
  • 1 clove garlic grated (I used 3)
  • salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Meanwhile make the ricotta sauce.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, garlic lemon zest and juice. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pinch of black pepper. I added 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper.
  3. Stir until well combined, taste for seasoning.
  4. In the last minute of pasta's cooking time, take out about 1/2 cup of the cooking water and reserve this if needed for sauce. Add the spinach during the last minute of pasta cooking, pushing down leaves to submerge them in the water.
  5. After one minute more, drain and return pasta and spinach to the same pot.
  6. Add the ricotta sauce and part of the reserved cooking water. Stir well to evenly coat the pasta in the sauce, add more cooking water as needed, you will want a smooth and creamy texture.
  7. Serve immediately and garnish with grated or shaved Parmesan cheese, a drizzle of olive oil and the lemon wedge that can be squeezed over the pasta.

Recipe Notes

I plan on adding some sun-dried tomatoes the next time I make this.

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