Sunday, July 4, 2010

Pasta, Spinach and Cheese Torte


 We had a big bag of spinach.  And a lot of eggs.  So after looking through loads of recipes, it was a unanimous decision to make a pasta recipe based on the one from Jennifer's Cooking.  It turned out pretty good, but next time we'll use flat pasta and goat cheese instead of spaghetti noodles and mozzarella.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons olive oil + extra to grease foil
1 lb fresh spinach, washed
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt
pepper
1/2 lb spaghetti
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cup milk (we used semi-skimmed)
3 ounces cream cheese
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line pan with foil and grease with oil.

Cook spinach in a 5- to 6-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until just tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a sieve set over a bowl. Press hard on the spinach to extract as much water as possible, then transfer to a cutting board and chop.


Reserve cooking water in pot.  Return cooking water to boil and cook the spaghetti until al dente.  Drain the pasta in a colander.


While pasta is cooking, heat 3 Tablespoons of oil in a skillet.  Add the onion, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.  Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in spinach, salt and pepper and remove from heat.

In a separate bowl (or blender) blend together eggs, milk, cream cheese and salt and pepper until smooth.

In the pot used to cook the pasta, stir the spinach, mozzarella and pasta together.


Pour into greased springform pan set on a baking tray (to catch any drips).  Pour in the egg mixture and top with Parmesan cheese. 


Bake until just set and top is golden brown, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Cool in springform pan on a rack 10 minutes, then loosen the pan.  Serve torte hot or warm.

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