Here's another quick and easy pasta dish. Ricotta and spinach is a classic combination, typically used as a filling in stuffed pastas like cannelloni and ravioli and also as a pie filling popular at Eastertime. Here the combination appears on the outside, as a kind of sauce, instead of on the inside.Blanch some spinach in salted water, drain, run under cold water and squeeze dry. Chop the spinach finely. Saute chopped onion in a mixture of olive oil and butter in a skillet or braising pan, the add the chopped spinach and let it braise, covered, so that the spinach becomes well flavored. In the meanwhile, cook the rigatoni and when done, add to the spinach in the pan and mix well. Add a healthy dollop of ricotta and parmesan cheese. Mix again, adding some of the pasta water to loosen the mixture so that it coats the pasta well. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately with additional grated parmesan.
NOTE: You can use frozen spinach if you like. Just defrost, squeeze out the extra water and chop, then proceed as indicated in the recipe. I like to use white onions for this dish, as they have a more delicate flavor than either yellow or red onions, but it's not a must.
Given the simplicity of this dish and the subtle flavor of both spinach and ricotta, the two main flavor ingredients, you'll need to be generous with the salt or the dish may turn out pretty bland.
TIP on creating a flavor base or soffritto: Sauteing onions can be a bit tricky. It's important that they not brown or--God forbid--burn. To help prevent this minor misfortune, add a little salt to the onions as you saute. This helps draw out the water in the onions, which both concentrates the flavor and helps prevent browning. Then add a tablespoon or so of water, which will help prevent burning and also help soften the onions. It is important that the onions become quite soft and lend their sweet flavor to the oil before you proceed to add the spinach. This technique of preparing a 'flavor base' is the starting point for many, many sauces, soups, stews and countless other dishes in Italian cooking (as in French cooking as well). Besides chopped onion, there are also bases of onion and garlic and, the most classic of all, chopped onion, carrots and celery (to which chopped parsley, garlic and/or pancetta can be added, depending on the dish). The chopping of the vegetables can be accomplished using a knife or a food processor (using the 'pulse' function so that it does not turn into mush) or, in the traditional fashion, with a half-moon shaped instrument called a mezzaluna (see photo below). Italians call the raw chopped vegetable mixture a battuto (in French, mirepoix) and the cooked flavor base a soffritto.
VERSIONE ITALIANA
Una pasta molto veloce e decisamente gustosa.
Cuocere gli spinaci ben lavati e puliti per pochi minuti in abondante acqua salata. Scolarli, sciaquarli con acqua fredda e strizzarli bene e tritarli. In una padella fai appassire cipolla tritata in un filo d’olio e del burro. Ripassaci gli spinaci per farli insaporire. Salare e peppare. Aggiungere un bel po' di ricotta e qualche cucchiaio di parmigiano grattugiato. Cuocere rigatoni in abbondante acqua salata, scolarli al dente e condirli con gli spinaci e la ricotta, aggiungendo un mestolo dell'acqua della pasta. Servire subito con ancora un po' di parmigiano grattugiato.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL
Hoy proponemos una pasta rápida y sabrosa a la vez.
En agua salada ponga a cocer espinacas por algunos minutos, luego escúrralas bien y píquelas. En una sartén sofría cebolla picada en aceite de oliva y mantequilla – sin dorarla - agregue luego las espinacas y deje que éstas absorban el sabor del sofrito. ¡Salpimentar! A este punto, agregue una buena cantidad de queso ricota y unas cucharadas de queso parmesano rallado. Ponga a cocer una pasta tipo rigatoni en abundante agua salada, escúrrala y agréguela a la sartén con un poco del agua en que coció la pasta mezclando todo bien. Sirva la pasta inmediatamente con un poco más de queso rallado.
