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Easy spinach pasta
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Photo by: Courtney Monigold, Spinach Pasta
I am still trying to stay on track with the healthy fan fare. After all, it’s January and I’m still trying to take it easy due to my holiday indulgences. I have specifically enjoyed watching the Food Network this week because they have had some great ideas on keeping it light.
Giada from the Food Network made spinach pasta that had me drooling. I have been trying to find ways to get more spinach in my diet so this was perfect.
If you have family members that don’t like to eat their vegetables, this is the perfect ‘trick’dish for them because they won’t even notice. Spinach is just one of those miracle foods, choc full of vitamins like iron, folate, vitamin k, etc. Just check out this article on spinach.
This dish is even healthier if you use whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta has SO much protein in it; it will fill you up faster and sustain you longer (Which basically means you will eat less). With that in mind, I try to use whole wheat pasta whenever I can.
Tip: It’s best with sauces that are robust, and this one definitely is.
The best part about this dish besides being healthy is that it’s actually good, and with 12 minutes to prepare, you can have one healthy, hearty dish on the table in minutes.
Spinach Pasta
Recipe derived from Giada De Laurentiis, Foodnetwork.com
Ingredients:
1 pound whole wheat or multi grain penne
1 garlic clove, chopped
4 ounces goat cheese
2 ounces mascarpone cheese, or you can use a reduced fat cream cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
Directions:
In a large pot of boiling salted water, add pasta and cook until el dente, about 12 minutes.
In a small pan, lightly sauté garlic with olive oil. Be careful to keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn otherwise you will have bitter garlic and need to start over. You can leave this raw and just process in the food processor with the cheese and skip this step all together but sometimes leaving it raw can make the garlic a tad too overpowering.
In a food processor, process cheeses, garlic, salt and pepper until smooth. Then, add the spinach. Process until completely smooth. (The original recipe said to keep half the spinach to toss with the final pasta but I prefer it blended)
Drain pasta but RESERVE at least a cup of the cooking water because you will want the starches from the pasta water to pull the pasta together with the sauce. Add the sauce and toss together. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
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