Spinach and Ricotta Pasta Sauce
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| Home made Spinach and Ricotta Pasta Sauce |
You will not believe how much time I have spent in the kitchen these last two weeks!
Now, some of you may have already picked up that despite living with my parents still, I do most of the cooking in the house. To be frank, Dad has just got lazy in his old age and when he gets in from work wants to do nothing more than sit down. Mum, bless her, doesn’t think she can cook so tries running in the other direction at the mention of moving into the kitchen. So, almost every day the cooking of the evening meal falls on to me.
Since they’ve gone on holiday, the word ‘almost’ has disappeared…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not complaining! Cooking for Mr KG every night for two weeks straight has meant I’ve been a bit more creative as I can’t fall back on many of the recipes I’d cook for my parents. (He’s veggie and has some rather random food allergies like sweetcorn!)
One of the best things to have come out of all of this cooking however, is my ability to knock together something incredibly simple and tasty with basic ingredients.
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| Best served simply with fresh pasta and garlic bread |
Spinach and Ricotta is a classic flavour combination and frequently appears on veggie friendly menus. Ready-made packets of ravioli in the supermarkets are often stuffed to bursting with it and if that’s not enough, 9 times out of 10 there will be a tub of gelatinous spinach and ricotta sauce to go with it. I’ve also seen a twist on lasagne made purely with spinach and ricotta before and let’s not to forget it’s also the obvious filling for cannelloni!
We’ve all tried these supermarket made pasta dishes and I think we can all say that although they are quick and easy they are incredibly bland. Tell me, why do we subject ourselves to tasteless food in the name on convenience!? There really is no good excuse for it!
My spinach and ricotta sauce contains many of the same ingredients you’d find in the supermarket tub: it’s got spinach, ricotta, cream and nutmeg. But the key to getting this right really is to cook it fresh! And not to hold back on the more luxurious ingredients (butter and cream I’m looking at you.)
This sauce is so simple we decided not to over complicate the meal. With some fresh pasta and garlic bread we had a quick and easy dinner that took no more than 10mins to cook and which tasted ten times better than the gloopy tub of sauce we could’ve smothered our pasta in.
We also had that incredible sense of pride that comes with cooking something tasty without even trying that hard!
Fancy kicking the habit of buying a quick pasta dish from the supermarket? Just, follow the recipe below.
Spinach and Ricotta Pasta Sauce (v)
Ingredients
- Ingredients:
- 100 g-150g Spinach
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 tbsp butter
- 150 ml single cream
- 150 g ricotta
- ½ tsp of ground nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
- Method:
Instructions
- Melt the butter in the pan.
- Crush the garlic clove and heat in the butter for a minute.
- Add the spinach a handful at a time and stir into the butter.
- Stir the spinach constantly as it wilts.
- Keep adding the spinach until it has all wilted and the garlic butter has coated it. Next add the cream.
- Bring to a simmer before stirring in the ricotta.
- Season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper before letting it simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- While the sauce simmers cook fresh pasta to serve.
Just look at how short the method on that recipe is! You really can cook this in around 10 minutes so there is no excuse not to treat yourself to this umptious pasta sauce when you come home from work.
As I also mentioned somewhere up there ^^^ the key really is fresh ingredients – butter, cream, ricotta and the spinach can’t be substituted out here. With so few ingredients don’t try cutting corners.
You’ll thank me for it later. Promise.