Happy Tuesday everyone! I am thrilled to be sharing my first post with you all. For the month of March, I will be doing a #pastasaroundtheworldseries. Each week, I will be making a Greek, Italian, Mexican and Asian inspired pasta dish. This week I made an Italian pasta dish, Lemon Ricotta Pappardelle with Spinach. The fresh lemons, spinach, and ricotta remind me of spring. It is very light, flavorful and easy to make. This pasta dish would be great to make for Easter coming up. I hope you enjoy this delicious pasta dish!

Lemon Ricotta Pappardelle with Spinach

Serves: 3

Ingredients

1/2 pound pappardelle pasta (feel free to use spaghetti, linguine, or any other pasta you like)

1 cup whole-milk ricotta

5 oz fresh baby spinach, washed

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 fresh lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Salt & pepper

Instructions

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions. Make sure pasta is al dente. In a large bowl, combine ricotta, olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic, and lemon juice from whole lemon. Season with salt and pepper and stir until well combined. In the last minute of the pasta’s cooking time, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then add spinach to the pot. Stir well and push the leaves down to submerge them in water. Afterwards, drain and return pasta and spinach to the same pot. Add the ricotta sauce and part of the reserved cooking water. Stir well to evenly coat the pasta in the sauce. Feel free to add more cooking water as needed, you want a smooth and creamy texture. Serve and garnish with grated Parmesan cheese. For an extra kick at the end I sprinkled crushed red pepper flakes. If you don’t like crushed red pepper flakes you don’t have to add them. Enjoy!