Its been a relatively lazy week….I’ve been reading ( The White Tiger- Finally got a hold of the book), and enjoying my guitar lessons and life has been moving slo-mo!
I even gave the weekly grocery shopping a miss and one night realized I had just a few bunches of spinach in the pantry. Luckily I’d seen this recipe here only weeks earlier and I knew just what to make. Heidi’s recipes are never-fail and this one didn’t disappoint either. Its an incredibly healthy yet delicious one meal dish…..deepened by the intense and complex nuttiness of almonds and flavored by lemon zest….
Baked Spinach Pasta
I halved the measurements…this serves 8.
extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound pasta
sea salt
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups well-chopped fresh spinach
1 1/2 cups lightly toasted and coarsely ground
zest of 2 lemons
8 ounces mozzerella, shredded or torn into small pieces
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter/oil a large casserole dish or baking pan – something roughly equivalent to 13×9-inch pan.
Boil the pasta in salted water per package instructions. Drain pasta, toss with a glug of olive oil. Set aside.
In the meantime, heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Saute the onions with a couple pinches of salt for a few minutes (or if you want a bit more depth of flavor until caramelized). Stir in garlic. Stir in spinach. Cook for just about 20 seconds, until the spinach collapses a bit. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of the almonds and 1/2 of the zest. Add to pasta and stir and stir – mixing extremely well, a minute or so.
Now sprinkle the bottom of baking dish with the rest of the zest. Add a layer of the pasta to the bottom of the baking pan, now sprinkle with some of the cheese, add more pasta, then more cheese. Finish with a layer of cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly and melty. Serve sprinkled with the remaining almonds.
Now for some Awards I would like to thank
Rupali of RecipeRagBag for the TAG award award…I would like to pass it on to
1.subhashini of Food the spice of life
2.Malini of Rozkakhana
3.Srimati of few minute wonders
4.bittersweetbrigade
5.Akarma Foods
6.Rajendramanju of life is beautiful
7.NS of my experiments with food
Suma from sumarowjee for the Thank You award..
This one I would like to pass on to..
1. Preety of Preetys Kitchen
2.Champa of Versatile Kitchen
3. Denu Foods
4.Vinolia of saapadu
5. Subhies Kitchen
6.anu of Mrignayani
7.soma of recipe diary
8.pavani of cooks hideout
9.pangravykadaicurry
10.kajals dreams
11.silence sings
12.Veg inspiration
The Yummy Team for this Sunshine award..I would like to pass it on to ALL my blogger friends….
and sashi of Tasty Bites gave me this Yummilicious award ..I would like to pass it on to
TREAT&TRICK
spicytasty
jay of tastyappetite
cham of spiceclub
curryandbeyond
kaugiri
easy2cook
PJ
Thanks all!!
Chas
/ April 27, 2010Great pasta.
Aparna Vijay
/ April 16, 2010Wow! Yummy pasta…
Sophie
/ April 15, 2010Hello S!!
Brussels calling!! Congrats on your many well deserved awards! Yeah! Congrats on the recievers too! Yeah!!
This pasta dish is so rich & tasty looking!!
Fab food!
Dolly
/ April 14, 2010Dear S, Congratulations on all ur awards… I was in fact here couple days back…and my comment was not saved..or cd’nt be sent..I did not want to appear ungrateful…so it was on my list to write my feedback again..and Now I’m here.
It is so sweet and generous of you to share an award with me..Really appreciate it..This pasta recipe ROCKS !!!.. In fact I might make this for dinner tonight as my kids just love pasta and can’t have enough of it.. I do agree pasta + almonds+spinach = one yummilious recipe..Also sometimes I too feel so lazy to go grocery shopping and instead try to cook with whatever I have on hand..
Preeti
/ April 14, 2010Thanks for the Award dear!!!!! Pasta is looking too good:)
shahana
/ April 13, 2010Loved your YUM pasta!
Vinolia
/ April 13, 2010Hello S,
oh yes, that’s a hearty rich and filling dish yet very quick and no-fuss dish that I’d readily make with no limits!!!
there are all of my favourite ingredients binded together, I love the combination spinach/mozzarella and you’ve given a royal touch with the almonds !!! I’m noting down the lemon zest for future uses, that’s an excellent idea too!!!
this is a recipe to treasure!!!
congratulations for all those awards and thank you so much for passing that lovely one to me!!! you see, thankfully I logged in today, hehehe!! thank you very much and enjoy your day dear !!!
Namitha
/ April 12, 2010Rich n creamy..congrats on your awards
Rupali
/ April 12, 2010Congrats on ur well deserved awards! learning to play guitar, that’s so cool! this pasta recipe looks yum too.
Sonia
/ April 12, 2010slurrrppp…I love the pasta. Yours pasta is making me hungry now.
Priti
/ April 12, 2010I agree…it sure looks yummy yum..
shanthi
/ April 12, 2010Yummy and creamy. You deserve the awards. Do visit my blog when time permits.http://shanthisthaligai.blogspot.com/
Cham
/ April 12, 2010Who wouldn’t love a gooey pasta dish? Congrats on ur awards and thanks 2 sharing with us
Deepa G Joshi
/ April 12, 2010wow, this looks so delicious and mmmmm…LOL…too good. congrats on all your awards dear..
Deepa G Joshi
/ April 12, 2010wow, this looks so delicious and mmmmm…LOL…too good.
notyet100
/ April 12, 2010wow yummy
Suma
/ April 12, 2010Pasta looks drool-worthy! Congrats on the awards!!
rozkakhana
/ April 12, 2010Thanks for visiting Roz ka Khana and for the lovely award!
PJ
/ April 12, 2010that recipe had caught my eye too.. glad to know it turned out delicious for you. spinmach, pasta and almonds is such a unique and yet perfect combination. Congrats on the awards and thanks for passing them on to me!
Apu
/ April 11, 2010Delicious looking pasta!! Beked pasta is a favourite in my home too!!
ns
/ April 11, 2010Thank you for sharing your award with me. Baked pasta is my long due dish. Your’s looking delicious.
Champa
/ April 11, 2010Pasta looks delicious. Thanks for the award. I really appreciate it.
Bigarade
/ April 11, 2010Hello!
WOW! your blog looks amazing and as for this recipe,it looks yummylicious!
Thankyou for the award its much appreciated!
im deffo going to be following this blog now!
Amazing how many blogs im still to find!
Srimathi
/ April 11, 2010Thank you so much for the award. Your post looks very delicious. It makes me want to give it a try.
Pavani
/ April 11, 2010Congrats on the awards and thanks for sharing one with me. Pasta with spinach & cheese looks yummy.
Priya
/ April 11, 2010Congrats on ur awards….Baked spinach pasta looks fantastic and cheesy…yumm!
Arthi
/ April 11, 2010Congrats on your awards and It’s so sweet of you to sharing it with me.
Awesome spinach pasta. Looks mouthwatering.
Jay
/ April 11, 2010Wowww this is completely new to me…Neat presentation…looks lovely. Thanks for visiting my blog and sharing the Yummylicious award. Thanks dear!
Parita
/ April 11, 2010Truly yummy combo!
Manju Rajender
/ April 11, 2010Dear S, thank you very much………I am absolutely delighted
This kind gesture of you means a lot……THANK YOU
sayantani
/ April 11, 2010Oh I can eat any kind of pasta any time of the day. this looks so delicious. never tried pasta with spinach sounds healthy.
Kamalika
/ April 11, 2010Congrats on ur awards and thanks a lot for sharing the award with me….
Baked spinach pasta is a new dish to me….looks very tempting and healthy too…my daughter’s favourite dish is pasta made in any flavour…..bookmarked ur recipe……
Preety
/ April 11, 2010sometimes its good too relax for a while and let the life move slowly..:)…pasta looks good i never baked my pasta but it sounds interesting..and thanks for sharing the award with me..
Simran
/ April 11, 2010It’s amazing what you came up with even after no grocery shopping!