Creamed Spinach Pasta

Using top quality, pastured, whole milk ricotta makes this dish delicious with no gritty texture. Yogurt might be okay as a substitute, but cottage cheese would make a lumpy sauce instead of a delicate creamy sauce. This recipe is similar to a Marcella Hazan recipe I've used for years. She mixes grated Parmesan into the ricotta and adds it to the pasta before adding the spinach mixture making it easier to mix together. Short, tubular pasta like penne works well and is easier to mix. So good!

Frozen chopped spinach is a lot easier. I use two 16 oz bags and just squeeze and drain after microwaving.

this. is. so. very. good. !!! the timing outlined in the notes wasn’t accurate (def takes more than 4 minutes to cook down a pound of spinach), and for my taste it could use more garlic, but otherwise a total winner.

I fail to see why the ricotta needs to be dumped into a large bowl just to add salt and pepper to only add it to the skillet at the end. Also, I'm a big fan of using cottage cheese, as is, in pasta dishes or Greek yogurt. Just wondering about substituting one of these for ricotta. Not a fan of its gritty texture.

I couldn’t resist punching it up with lemon zest and juice of a Meyer lemon at the end. Faint hint of lemon added a lot.

This works with any cooking greens—spinach, arugula, swiss chard, kale—that you might have on hand. It also works fine with half and half versus heavy cream.

Not shocking at all John! I find that when you are going to cook the spinach anyway-frozen is perfect. I thaw it and add it uncooked to the recipe after squeezing out the water.

This is for Libby...Cashew Cream can be substituted for dairy. Buy raw cashews and soak for a few hours. Drain and blend with water.... if you use a 1/2 cup of cashews add a 1/2 cup water in the blender and blend for a minute. You will have a nice cream substitute.

I know this is a shocking thing to ask, but if you don't want to make the spinach yourself, can you use the frozen kind in the boiling bag?

Agreed, it needs more garlic (I used 4 cloves and wish I used more). And I'm not a pine nuts fan so I pivoted to one of Alison Roman's tricks and added some toasted breadcrumbs for the much needed texture. I also added crushed red pepper bc i like spice. And mushrooms bc they were about to turn so I had to use them Still after all that I found the recipe bland. Cream, ricotta, spinach, pasta it's easy to see how. No matter how much salt, pepper and nutmeg I added it wasn't enough flavor for me.

Yummy recipe that I was happy to reheat the next day and eat again. However, I couldn't help but feel there was something lacking flavor-wise. The next time I make this, I'll remedy that situation by adding some olives and mushrooms, maybe some onions too.

Vegan alternative: I added some very thin asperagus tips with the garlic and sub'd vegan half-and-half for the cream. Then sub'd Myoko's soft mozzarella for ricotta. At the very end, added some nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes and a splash of lemon juice. Absolutely delicious! Can't wait for leftovers.

I added mushrooms and shallots when sauteing the garlic, very great addition!

Made this tonight. I forgot the nuts, but it was still delicious. It could do with more spinach, and I like the idea of toasted bread crumbs instead of nuts. Bacon might be good, too.

Yummy and comforting. We did not have ricotta so I used half sour cream and half Greek yogurt and that worked perfectly. After taking out the cooked garlic, I put frozen spinach directly in the pan and sauteed it in the butter. That worked well too.