Good Reads Library
Recipe: Ziti w/Spinach, Tomato and Cheese
I used to be a spaghetti sauce purist. I grew up on my mom's basic meat sauce--so easy to make I cooked it in college dorm kitchens. I've learned to make a lot of other sauces since, but using jarred sauce--never!
But there are some pretty good sauces out there these days.And after I found the wonderful book Desperation Dinners I started trying to use them in some of my recipes, including this ziti dish.
The Desperation Dinner ladies have a web site and a newspaper column. Their recipes are mostly great and they may give you some ideas of ways to streamline your cooking, something I'm always looking to do! I love to cook--but I seldom have time to FUSS!
Aside from the spaghetti sauce,I am giving you this recipe exactly as I have been making it for a good 10 years. I'm pretty sure I got it from Gourmet magazine, and I did find a similar recipe there dating from the fall of 1994. But that recipe includes sausage and pesto and requires the dish to be baked, while this one can be put together in the time it takes you to cook the pasta, and then is just heated to melt the cheese on top!
SC claimed to hate spinach and was about to refuse to try this, but I persuaded her to take one bite. Not only did she eat it, she had the leftovers for dinner several nights laters. I made it again last week and not only did she eat it, she admitted today she sort of liked the taste of the spinach. Victory!
JR still won't try it, but then again, she is the one who eats plain pasta a lot when a sauce is available. She's also so skinny you can see all her ribs. Adolescence will cure that--it did for me. SIGH.......
If you want the original recipe you can get it here. Feel free to tinker with it yourself. See if it can persuade YOUR kids to eat spinach!
Ziti with Spinach, Tomatoes and Two Cheeses
1 lb of ziti or penne pasta
1 medium onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, chopped (I use the jarred kind)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
(we use Bertoli, which recently ranked high on a Cook's Magazine taste test, but you can pick your favorite tomato based sauce)
1 bag of spinach (the sort that is pre-cleaned--a 10 oz bag)
6 ounces grated mozzarella cheese (lower fat types work fine)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Heat large pot of water. While the water is coming to a boil, rinse, dry and chop the spinach. Set spinach aside.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, saute the onions and garlic in a large pan. Add the spaghetti sauce and cook until it is heated through. You can also heat spaghetti sauce in the microwave, but use a cover--it splatters!
When the pasta is done, drain it and combine with the spinach and mozzarella. Add the tomato sauce mix, and 1/3 cup of the parmesan.
Turn the whole mixture into a large, broiler safe pan. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and place under the broiler until the cheese melts.
Serve and enjoy!!
