My favorite Saturday morning ritual is coffee and breakfast in bed. Instead of reading the paper, I watch Food Network and cuddle with the kitties. Last weekend was fast and easy weeknight dinners. All of the episodes were around this theme. Perfect for me. When I saw this dish I wanted to try it. It seemed easy, yet impressive enough for guests. (The show was Giada at Home.) The price is nice also at about $7.00 for six servings.
The biggest reason why I made this dish was because I already had all of the ingredients. On Friday, I zealously bought two 1lb tubs of arugula and spinach for salads. While I eat HHUUUGEE salads every day, the amount was a bit much for one person. This was a great way to use up some of the spinach.
This dish is rich, creamy and cheesy. It's not totally diet friendly :(. I portioned out the dish into six and ate it with a salad. Calorie count is not too bad but it is very high in fat. If you watch your fat intake for the rest of the day though, you should be OK :)Ingredients: Serves Six kosher salt 1 lb. fusilli pasta 1/4 cup olive oil 2 cloves garlic, slightly crushed 5 cups baby spinach leaves pepper/salt 1 1/2 cup of grated pecorino romano cheese (6 oz) 1 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature Method:
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 3/4 cup of cooking liquid and drain the pasta.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until lightly browned, about two minutes. Remove the garlic and discard.
- Add the spinach and some pepper (to taste) and cook until the spinach has wilted.
- Remove from heat and add the pasta. Add the pecorino romano cheese and toss.
- In a medium bowl whisk together reserved cooking water and mascarpone cheese until smooth. Mix with pasta.
- Add salt and pepper as needed.