Ingredients for 4 persons
320g durum wheat dry pasta
100g young cheese
200g spinach leaves
some grated parmigiano or grana
200g butter
2 cloves garlic
2TbSp salt
Instructions
Bring a pot of water to a boil and toss in the coarsely minced spinach
leaves, add salt and let cook for about (20 minutes - pasta cooking
time) and then toss in pasta, so that the spinach will boil 20 minutes
total. IE: if the pasta has a cooking time of 10 minutes, let the
spinach boil for 10 minutes and then add pasta.
Best pasta for this would be pizzoccheri (short buckwheat noodles) but
any short pasta format will do. Long pasta as spaghetti could work
too, but I deem them less adapt for this kind of preparation.
Aside, melt the butter with the garlic cloves peeled and cut in halves
and let it off the fire while pasta and spinach cook. Cut the young
cheese into very thin slices; it could be asiago or a young pecorino,
but I think any young and not too tasty cheese could do well, too.
When the pasta and spinach are ready, drop them in a colander and
somehow press thema bit with a ladle or spoon, to help drain the water
from the spinach.
In a serving dish, lay half of the pasta and spinach and cover with
half of the sliced young cheese, add half of the garlic flavored
butter and sprinkle with half of the the grated seasoned cheese.
Repeat the process with the remaining pasta & spinach, young cheese,
flavored butter and grated seasoned cheese.
If the young cheese is young enough it will melt in a minute or less,
just the time to bring the serving dish to table.
One can easily figure out how to add something else in this versatile
dish, like more vegetables or mushrooms.
Yesterday evening it wonderfully matched a bottle of sligthly
sparkling ("vivace"😉 Bonarda from Piacenza.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'