Making homemade tomato sauce for this recipe really allows you to control what goes into it. Here, it’s mixed up with chunks of mozzarella for extra bursts of cheesy goodness, along with cottage cheese for all the satisfying qualities of ricotta with only a fraction of the fat and calories.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 21 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Inactive: | 11 min |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Kosher salt
- One 12-ounce box fiber-and-calcium-enriched penne
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- One 28-ounce can no-salt-added crushed tomatoes
- 1 sprig fresh basil plus 1/2 cup leaves, torn, for garnish
- Freshly ground black pepper
- One 8-ounce block part-skim mozzarella (half grated, half cubed)
- One 16-ounce container 1-percent cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- One 10-ounce block frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Mist a 2 to 2 1/2-quart rectangular or oval baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the penne and cook according to package directions for al dente.
- While the pasta cooks, heat the oil in a medium pot set over medium heat. Add the fennel seeds and garlic and cook until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, basil sprig, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, lowering the heat if the sauce bubbles too vigorously, until the sauce has thickened slightly, the flavors have blended together and the raw tomato taste has cooked out, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, discard the basil and season with additional salt and pepper. Pour over the cooked pasta and toss well to coat. Add the cubed mozzarella and transfer half the pasta to the prepared baking dish.
- Put the cottage cheese in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Add the shredded mozzarella and Parmesan and pulse two to three times. Combine half the cottage cheese mixture with the spinach and mix to break up the spinach. Drop in spoonfuls over the pasta in the baking dish. Top the spinach layer with the rest of the pasta and then the remaining cottage cheese mixture.
- Bake until bubbly and golden brown on top, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes, and then scatter the torn basil over the top.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 315 calorie |
| Total Fat | 9 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 4 grams |
| Cholesterol | 18 milligrams |
| Sodium | 674 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 41 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 7.5 grams |
| Protein | 23 grams |
| Sugar | 4 grams |
| Calories | 315 calorie |
| Total Fat | 9 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 4 grams |
| Cholesterol | 18 milligrams |
| Sodium | 674 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 41 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 7.5 grams |
| Protein | 23 grams |
| Sugar | 4 grams |
Reviews
Loved this. I did end up having to make changes as I didn’t have all the ingredients, ex. didn’t have fennel but I threw in some italian seasoning for flavour, didn’t have mozz so used cheddar. I wanted baked pasta with spinach and this was the recipe I found which I had most of the ingredients for. It’s nice when you can change a few things and it still turns out well. I’ll try to make the dish more accurately next time!
A great recipe! Probably one of the best pasta dishes I have ever made! I used fresh spinach as the store was out of frozen spinach. My husband even had seconds.
I love this recipe. My daughter requested me to make for her college break.
I took time to really crush the fennel and that makes a huge difference on flavor. The only change I made was using ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese.
I took time to really crush the fennel and that makes a huge difference on flavor. The only change I made was using ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese.
Really good with the cottage cheese. Filling and tasty.
If I have been successful in my previous postings then my apologies as it wasn’t showing up after each attempt. I only modified the recipe by using one and a half cans of Aylmer’s Accents Italian tomatoes and only because I didn’t have fresh. (540 ml cans) Best thing I could have done as this was so amazingly delicious that I had to leave the house so that I would stop eating! Wonderful!
Delicious! I bought organic penne from Trader Joe’s and a healthy spaghetti sauce from there as well. Instead of frozen spinach I used fresh. I also added chunks of chicken to the pasta. Next time I’ll be sure to get basil!
Loved this – blanched fresh spinach instead. My daughter just thought it was basil like on top :
This was delicious! I added a little turkey sausage to the recipe. Yum.
I used my own homemade pasta sauce and added about 3 oz. of grated Monterey jack cheese. It was very good and even better the next day for lunch.
Road tested this on 4 teens and got a big thumbs down. Very bland even when salted and not very cheesy. Surprised since it was called Cheesy Pasta.