TMT - Penne with Spinach and Ricotta

My first Thirty Minute Thursday post!  I decided to join the group yesterday.  Today I looked in the refrigerator and didn't see much.  I have been stuck at home for most of the week because of construction and the larder was quite bare.  There was some frozen spinach in the freezer, so I looked up spinach in the index of Giuliano's Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta and found Penne with Spinach and Ricotta.  I had some ricotta left over from the cannelloni I recently made for Cooking Italy - bingo!

A simple recipe - saute diced onion in a little butter, added chopped spinach and cook about 5 minutes.  Add the ricotta, a little heavy cream, some nutmeg and S&P.  Add spinach sauce to cooked penne, toss with a little parmigiana cheese and enjoy!

Okay, that's how it's supposed to go.  I added about twice as much spinach as called for, well, just because we like spinach!  As you can see in my photo, no penne, so I had to make do with rotelli pasta.  I must also confess, I did not have heavy cream.  So as a workable substitute, I made a quick little bechamel, with a pat of butter, a tbs. of flour and 1/2 c. non-fat milk.  We never missed the cream and probably won the cholesterol toss up between the pat of butter and the heavy cream. 

There you have it, a wonderful meal in about 30 minutes.  My husband and I both enjoyed this - he even suggested adding some pignoli nuts next time - great idea!