Pasta with Lemon, Ricotta, and Spinach

 

I watch a lot of Italian television, and in the shows that I watch, they cook and they eat. One thing I have noticed when they cook pasta is that they don’t drain it. They use tongs and they take pasta right from the boiling water, and drop it into whatever sauce they happen to be using. That strikes me as immensely practical. It spares you the draining process (and dirtying another dish), and setting aside some pasta water to stir it to make sauce creamy, because the pasta that you have removed from the pan of boiling water already has enough adhered to it.  I put that style of pasta making to use when I made this dish, and I don’t think I will make pasta any other way.  

 

This dish is very light and refreshing. It’s the perfect springtime pasta.

  Pasta with Lemon, Ricotta, and Spinach

 8 oz. spaghetti

½ 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach

1 c. whole-milk ricotta

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 large garlic clove, grated

1 lemon, zest and juice

¼ - ½ t. kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.

 Cook spinach according to microwave package directions.; set aside to coo; slightly while you make the ricotta sauce. 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine ricotta, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper. fold i  cooled, cooked spinach until combined.

 When pasta has finished cooking, use a tongs to extract it from the cooking pot, placing pasta directly into ricotta sauce. Toss with the tongs until evenly coated with the sauce, and serve immediately. If you'd like it creamier, feel free to add up to 1/2 cup pasta water.

 Makes 2 main dish portions, or 4 side dish portions.

Banana, Coconut and Ricotta Pancakes with Ginger Syrup

I teased you yesterday with the recipe for ginger syrup, telling you that one of its delicious uses would be posted today.  Now, remember the luscious cocktail that was served in the coconut half that I showed you here?  Obviously, there was another half to that coconut, one with three holes in it for draining the water, but one that also had wonderfully fresh, moist coconut meat.  It was that meat, freshly grated in the food processor, that sent me on my quest for a breakfast recipe in which I could put it to good use.  Thanks to Epicurious.com, I found a decadently delicious recipe that is full of complex tastes and will make you feel that you’re breakfasting on a tropical isle.  The beauty of this recipe is that it, like the ginger syrup, can be made ahead, so you won’t have to labor in the morning to put a fantastic meal on the table.  I used a Cuisinart Griddler to make my pancakes, so there was no need for the butter as mentioned in the recipe.  Also, as I'm not keen on pineapple other than eaten alone, I eliminated it as a topping ingredient.  Personally, I don’t think the pineapple has a place here at all as it would have clashed rather badly, I think, with the ginger.

Banana, Coconut and Ricotta Pancakes with Ginger Syrup

4 large eggs, separated

3/4 cup whole milk

2/3 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese (about 6 ounces)

2/3 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon (generous) salt

1 1/3 cups finely grated fresh coconut (about 4 ounces)

6 teaspoons (or more) butter

3 bananas, peeled, sliced on diagonal

1/2 pineapple, peeled, cored, thinly sliced, cut into triangles

 Whisk egg yolks, milk, ricotta, flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla, and salt in large bowl. Stir in coconut. DO AHEAD Can be made 12 hours ahead. Cover and chill.

Beat egg whites in another large bowl until stiff. Gently fold into ricotta mixture.

Melt 1 teaspoon butter on griddle or in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, drop batter onto griddle by 1/4 cupfuls. Cook until bubbles form on pancakes, about 2 minutes. Flip pancakes; cook 2 minutes longer, adding butter to griddle by teaspoonfuls between batches. Arrange 3 to 4 pancakes on each plate. garnish with sliced fruit; pour warm ginger syrup over.

This post is linked to:

Sweets for a Saturday

Seasonal Sunday

Sunday's Best Party