I would like to first of all, thank those of you who have offered insight on the difference between goat cheese and feta cheese from my shrimp recipe earlier. I am more determined now to try goat cheese once I figure out where they keep it in my store. 🙂 My recipe for today uses ricotta cheese. Check it out:

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 cup whole-milk ricotta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 5-oz. bag baby spinach

Preparation

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. (Tip: I used to have to “cut” my kids’ spaghetti each time I made it, because they could not manage getting the long pieces onto their fork and into their mouth, without it landing in their laps. This can be a daunting task, since the spaghetti is very slippery. :0) I had this idea recently: Before cooking my spaghetti, I break the spaghetti into small sizes for my kiddos, and then cook the small pieces of spaghetti. At two and four years old, this makes the spaghetti much easier for them to get onto their fork, and less work for me.)

2. In a bowl, stir together ricotta, olive oil, lemon zest and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. (Tip: I don’t think I added enough salt, and I promise I am not one of those that adds salt to EVERYthing either 🙂 …I think I used like half of a teaspoon or something; maybe use like 1 Tablespoon?)

3. Drain spaghetti, reserving 1 cup cooking water. Return pasta to pot and stir in ricotta mixture, spinach and 1/2 cup pasta cooking water. (Tip: the recipe did not mention to cook the spinach in boiling water, but I think I should have done that first, because I think softer spinach would have tasted better. I chopped mine up in our food processor) Toss well, adding more pasta cooking water 1 Tbsp. at a time, if necessary. Serve hot.