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Year of the Noodle: Week 45

As a child, frozen spinach was my nemesis.  My mom would dutifully try and feed it to me, and I would spit it out.  I would whine.  I would gag.

Finally she gave up.  And I officially put frozen spinach on my blacklist for life.

Until last week.  Mom snuck that frozen spinach into a delightful dip, and I didn’t even notice it came from the freezer.  In fact, I rather liked it.  So I decided to give frozen spinach another try in this recipe.

I smothered it in cheese and surrounded it with pasta and eggs – just in case – and I still liked it.  This whole dish is hearty and filling, and the spinach has a rather nice flavor.  It feels like comfort food.

If you had told 8 year old me that anything with frozen spinach in it was comfort food, I would have thought you insane.  Yet here we are.  I can now remove frozen spinach from the blacklist, like a grown adult.

Score one for mom.

Ingredients

5-⅓ ounces, weight Penne Pasta (I used tri-color macaroni)
1 whole Medium Onion
1 bunch Fresh Basil
1 clove Garlic
4 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Olive Oil
7 ounces, weight Frozen Spinach (200g)
1 pinch Nutmeg
3 Tablespoons Ricotta Cheese
2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese, Plus More For Sprinkling
1 teaspoon Butter
½ whole Buffalo Mozzarella

Directions
Finely chop the onion, basil and garlic and put to one side. Lightly beat the 4 eggs together.  Start cooking your pasta in lightly salted water.
Fry the garlic and onion until just going golden. Add the spinach and nutmeg and continue to cook until softened. Stir through the basil, ricotta and parmesan and season to taste.  Drain the cooked pasta and add the spinach mixture. Stir well.
In a clean frying pan, melt the butter until it just starts to froth. Tip in the pasta and arrange so it is reasonably level but not over-flattened.  Carefully pour in the egg mixture so it is evenly distributed through the pasta. Arrange slices of mozzarella on the top and finish with salt, pepper and a little grated parmesan.  Allow to cook slowly on the stove for approximately 5-10  minutes before finishing under the broiler to cook and brown the top.