Low Fat Spinach And Ricotta Pasta Recipes

SPINACH AND RICOTTA PASTA BAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 220C.
• Cook the pasta and spinach in boiling, salted for 10 minutes, until JUST cooked.
• Meanwhile, open the tinned tomatoes and drain the liquid from them using a sieve.
• Add all of the other tomato sauce ingredients to the drained tomatoes and stir well.
• When the pasta and spinach are cooked, drain the majority of the water (see recipe notes).
• Add the ricotta sauce ingredients and stir thoroughly, but gently. Pour into a casserole dish.
• Top with the tomato mixture and the remaining mozzarella cheese.
• Pop into the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbling.
• Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve.

LEMON RICOTTA PASTA & SPINACH

Steps:

• In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Meanwhile, make the ricotta sauce.
• In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon zest and juice. Season with 1/4 tsp of salt and a good pinch of pepper.
• Stir until well combined, taste and make sure you're happy with the seasoning.
• In the last minute of the pasta's cooking time, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then and add spinach to the pot. Stir well and push the leaves down to submerge them in water.
• After 1 minute, drain and return pasta and spinach to the same pot.
• Add the ricotta sauce and part of the reserved cooking water. Stir well to evenly coat the pasta in the sauce, add more cooking water as needed, you want a smooth and creamy texture.
• Serve immediately and garnish with grated or shaved Parmesan cheese, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and lemon wedges if desired (for extra freshly squeezed juice, but I leave it optional). Plus, I love adding a good pinch of red pepper flakes, you might give it a go. Enjoy!

SPINACH & RICOTTA CANNELLONI

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Put the spinach and a drizzle of olive oil in a large pan over a low heat. Add the nutmeg, season with sea salt and black pepper, cover and leave to sweat. Help the kids to stir it occasionally until the spinach has cooked down. Place in a bowl and set to one side to cool a little.
• Dice the onion and squash the garlic. In the same pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil and gently sweat the onion until soft.
• Scrunch in the tomatoes through your clean hands and add the garlic and bay leaf. Pick in a few basil leaves and grate in the zest of the lemon half, then let it gently simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
• Have the kids squeeze the moisture out of the spinach into the bowl. Place the spinach on a board so you can chop it up. Return the spinach to the liquid in the bowl.
• Beat the egg and grate 2 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese. Get the kids to stir the ricotta, egg and Parmesan into the spinach. Season to taste.
• Sit a piping bag in a jug, fold its edges over the rim, then spoon in the spinach mixture. Have the kids help pipe the mixture into the cannelloni tubes and lay them in a 20cm x 25cm oven dish.
• Spread the tomato sauce over the cannelloni. Pick the remaining basil leaves and scatter most of them over the tomato sauce. Slice the mozzarella and lay the slices on top, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and season.
• Place in the oven and cook for 35 to 40 minutes or till the top is golden and the pasta tender (if the top browns too fast, cover the dish with foil). Remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving with the remaining basil leaves.

LOW FAT CHEESY SPINACH AND EGGPLANT LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
• Drop lasagna noodles into water and add 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Cook until noodles are tender but still slightly firm, about 8 minutes.
• Drain water from the noodles and let cool.
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Cook and stir garlic and eggplant chunks until eggplant is partially cooked, about 7 minutes.
• Pour tomato sauce into the skillet and simmer until eggplant is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Combine ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, black pepper, and egg in a bowl.
• Mix spinach into ricotta cheese mixture.
• Spread a layer of tomato sauce mixture into the bottom of a 9x12-inch baking dish.
• Place 4 noodles on top of the sauce, overlapping if necessary.
• Spoon 1/3 of the remaining tomato sauce over noodles.
• Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the tomato sauce
• Repeat layers twice more, starting with noodles and following with sauce and ricotta mixture.
• Top the lasagna with mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven until the ricotta filling is set and mozzarella cheese topping is lightly browned, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

SPINACH & RICOTTA PASTA BAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
• Pasta Sauce: Pour out about 1/4 cup of the passata (to make room to add flavourings). Add the remaining Pasta Sauce ingredients into the bottle, screw the lid on and give it a shake.
• Cook pasta for time per packet MINUS 1 minute.
• SCOOP OUT 1 mugful pasta cooking water, drain and set aside.
• Ricotta Mixture - Mix Ricotta Mixture ingredients in a very large bowl. Use a splash of pasta cooking water if needed to make it creamy.
• Add pasta and stir to combine. Transfer to a heatproof baking dish.
• Top with Pasta Sauce, top with cheese. Loosely cover with foil.
• Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
• Serve while hot and fresh!

LOW-FAT SPINACH AND RICOTTA PASTA

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't brown.
• Add spinach and basil to the skillet and stir until wilted.
• Then add ricotta cheese and milk (and optional lemon juice and zest) to skillet and stir well.
• Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup or so of the cooking water.
• Combine cooked pasta and ricotta mixture in a large bowl. If it is too thick, add a bit of the cooking water to the mixture.
• Serve immediately with some freshly ground black pepper and an optional 1 teaspoon of grated Parmesan cheese per serving.