Baked Rigatoni With Spinach, Ricotta, And Fontina

Well tonight's dinner was easy, and not too pricey but those were the only things it truly excelled at.  The dish it's self wasn't terrible, but it lacked some moisture.  Either some of the pasta cooking water, cream or tomato sauce would have helped save the dish.  It was dry and chunky.  I liked the flavor but it was very one dimensional.  If I were to make this again, I think I would play around with the ricotta and try to make it more of a sauce.  Not a complete fail, but not a resounding success either.  I think the main issue my boys had with it were the fact that it was not as high fat a dish as they would have likes.  And in the case of the boy, I think that he objected to the nutmeg a bit.  I think I would keep this in the fixable file.  It is more for me than the boys.  It was a super quick and filling dinner and sometimes that's just what you need.


Baked Rigatoni With Spinach, Ricotta, And Fontina

1 lb rigatoni
3 T  olive oil
1    10-ounce package frozen spinach,thawed
2 c  (about 1 pound) ricotta
5 T  grated Parmesan
1/2 t  grated nutmeg
3/4 t  salt
1/4 t  fresh-ground black pepper
6    ounces fontina,grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

1. Heat the oven to 450. Oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the rigatoni until
almost done, about 12 minutes. Drain. Put the pasta in the prepared
baking dish and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil.
3. Meanwhile, squeeze as much of the water as possible from the
spinach.   Put the spinach in a food processor and puree with the
ricotta, 3 tablespoons of the Parmesan, the nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
Stir in half the fontina.
4. Stir the spinach mixture into the pasta. Top with the remaining
fontina and Parmesan. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over the
top. Bake the pasta until the top is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
Notes Variation You can substitute another chunky pasta, such as penne rigate, penne, ziti, or fusilli. Boil all of these one or two minutes
less.