Spanakopita Pasta

This recipe would be great for busy nights, because it seriously did go together in no more time than it took the pasta to cook!

Plus, it’s going to reheat well - though I haven’t reheated it yet, just trust me on that! - because I’m bento-boxing it up for dinners for the week. I’m guessing it would probably also freeze well!

I’m making a real simple sauce - just crumbling 8oz of feta and cutting 2T of butter into a four cup measure, adding some things from the spice cabinet, and then melting both feta and butter with the addition of some of the reserved pasta water.

The spinach I’m wilting in the microwave. I like a lot of spinach (spinach is one of my top diet secrets) so I’m wilting about 3lbs of fresh spinach, starting with what fits in my bowl/microwaving 4 minutes/adding as much more spinach as fits in the bowl/another four minutes/et cetera. 

Once the pasta is done, I add the reserved water to the four cup measure, whisk until the sauce is (mostly) smooth, and toss it all together. Feta doesn’t quite melt to ‘smooth’ the way other cheeses do. 

SPANAKOPITA PASTA

14oz Tinkyada fettuccine 

48oz fresh spinach

8oz feta

2T butter

1T dill

1t parsley

1/2t onion powder

Wilt spinach in the microwave in a large bowl, four minutes at a time, until all is wilted.

Crumble feta into a four-cup measure or small bowl. Cut the 2T butter into small pieces and add to the feta. Add dill, parsley, and onion powder. 

Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 2C of pasta water before draining.

Whisk 1 1/2C reserved pasta water into four cup measure until smooth (well, as smooth as feta’s going to get), adding more pasta water if it is too thick. Add pasta to spinach, and toss with the sauce.

Servings: 7

Calories per serving: 300