Category : cream cheese, garlic, spaghetti, spinach, white wine
Sauces and I are not traditionally friends. My favorite way to sauce a pasta is either to fake a cream sauce with cream cheese or to open a jar. I think the only pasta sauce I ever successfully made without incident was the cheese sauce for The Pioneer Woman's mac and cheese.
Spinach and I are friends. I love spinach, and would even go so far to say that it is my favorite leafy green foodstuff. The problem with spinach is that I can never eat an entire pack of it before it goes back. Grocery stores need to sell 1/2 or 1/4 packs for people who live alone. Anyway, in an attempt to up my vegetable intake, I bought a package of spinach. I've been using it almost daily on sandwiches and things, but I've barely made a dent in it.
How else could I use the spinach? I did some pondering the other night and decided that a creamy spinach pasta would be a delightful dinner.
Well, it was not without its flaws, but it was tasty.
Firstly, I didn't put in nearly enough spinach. Secondly, I started the sauce/spinach saute much too early, so it reduced too much by the time I needed it. It was pretty tasty, though. Especially when I paired it with some warm garlic bread.
I eyeballed basically everything and I have no idea how much spaghetti I used. The goal was to use enough to for leftovers for lunch the next day, which I had. I also had about a serving and a half at dinner. So enough spaghetti for about three servings?
1 Tbsp. butter
4 minced gloves of garlic
2 cups of fresh baby spinach
3/4 cup of white wine, divided
1/4 cup of milk
1 oz fat free cream cheese
1 Tbsp. cornstarch (added because the sauce was not to the thickness I wanted)
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Enough spaghetti for three servings
In a pot, get the water going for the spaghetti. I started the sauce before the spaghetti and it was a huge and obvious mistake. Once the water is boiling, toss in the spaghetti and let it cook for the amount of time it states on the package.
In a small pan, melt the butter. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add in the spinach and allow it to wilt down. Stir it all up. Add 1/2 cup of the wine and let it bowl and reduce a little bit.
Strain the spaghetti and put it back on the stove top on low heat. Add in the spinach/wine mixture and stir. Add the cream cheese, milk, and the rest of the wine. Stir. If the sauce doesn't thicken to your liking, add cornstarch. Finally, stir in the Parmesan cheese and serve. I ground some pepper on mine, but don't feel obligated if that isn't your thing.
Cheesy, garlicky, spinachy. I wish I had added way more spinach, but there you have it. I love cooking with white wine, by the way. There's something about it that adds such an excellent flavor.
The garlic bread was a take and bake loaf I picked up at my local grocery store. It wasn't very garlicky, but it was still quite good and was an excellent addition to the pasta.
I'm not sure what else I have planned for this week in the food department. I'm still pawing through my new cookbooks. This week, in comparison to last week, is very quiet and somewhat slow. I feel like busy week and not-so-busy weeks tend to be equally draining at the end of the day.
