This is my “kitchen sink” pasta recipe; feel free to substitute any leftover vegetables or cheeses. You’ll be astonished by the amount of taste you get even though the combination seems a little strange.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package penne pasta
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 (8 ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1 small red onion, diced
- ½ medium green bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or more to taste
- crushed red chili pepper to taste (optional)
- 3 cups fresh spinach, or to taste, stems removed
- 1 medium Roma tomato, diced
- 1 (15 ounce) carton ricotta cheese
- 1 pinch garlic powder, or to taste
- 1 pinch onion powder, or to taste
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 large lemon, zested and juiced
- ¼ cup cubed fresh mozzarella
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 11 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onion, bell pepper, and garlic; saute until softened, 5 to 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, and crushed red chili pepper. Add spinach and tomato towards the end of the saute process and cook until spinach has wilted.
- Season ricotta cheese with more Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder. Stir seasoned ricotta cheese into the vegetable mixture with Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Heat over medium-high heat until heated all the way through, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Plate and top with mozzarella.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 370 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 49 g |
| Cholesterol | 37 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 417 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made the recipe almost as written. I did only use 1/2 of the ricotta. I found it to be very dry. Also, if you didn’t get lemon and garlic in each bite, it was rather bland. I love the idea, I might try again with different ingredients.
I thought it was very good, all the flavors coming together with the lemon and ricotta. My son said it wasn’t bad but he said it didn’t have much flavor and my daughter liked it. I didn’t have fresh spinach so I used canned and I used fresh herbs from the garden and I cut the recipe in half. I would make it again and tell my son to add more salt!
dfbadfb
Yummy and easy. I don’t like tomatoes, so omitted. Used fresh kale instead of spinach; steamed edamame and steamed broccoli plus, added grilled chicken on top for protein. I would recommend adding a touch of the pasta water to make more of a “sauce”. Will make again!
Loved it. Did not include actual lemon zest, red pepper.
This is sooo good! Besides the ingredients in the recipe, I also added Broccoli and brussels sprouts, just because I had them in my refrigerator. At first I thought the ricotta mixture was not going to be enough to coat all of the pasta and veggies but it was perfect. I made it just as the recipe said, except I mixed the pasta in with the veggies and the ricotta mixture. I also baked some as another reviewer had suggested.. I feel that baking dried it out a little and muted some of the lemon taste. I love this recipe and will definitely be making it again. Next time I might add some chicken sausage for a little extra flavor.
This was just ok for me. I felt there was too much ricotta in proportion to the other ingredients, and it needed more seasoning and lemon for my taste. The recipe also doesn’t say when to add the pasta to the cheese/veggie mixture–it just says to ‘plate’ it. I think the pasta really needs to be added to the veggie mixture once its done sauteing, and then add the ricotta mixture to fully coat the noodles. I also think this would be even better placed into a casserole dish, topped with the mozzarella and Parmesan, and baked until the cheese is browned on top. I would consider making this again, but I would tweak it for my tastes. Thanks for the recipe!