Long Day at the Office

OK, OK, technically I don't have an office. I do, however, spend long days working so it's nice to be able to put up an essy, yet tasty dish when I get home. My partner has it even worse - during the week, he has the most terrible commute, so I end up cooking most of the time. Luckily I find nothing more relaxing than cooking!

Today I decided to do a pasta dish with fresh tagliatelle and spinach.


Ingredients
200 grams of fresh tagliatelle (store-bought for convenience!)
a knob of butter
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
250 grams of fresh spinach
100 grams of ricotta cheese
Zest of half a lemon
100 grams of parmasan
freshly ground black pepper
plenty of salt

The tagliatelle only takes a small while to cook, so be careful about your timing. Boil some water with a pinch of salt and put in the tagliatelle (check the package for the required time). Meanwhile, chop the onions and garlic very finely and put some butter in a hot pan. Add the onions and garlic. 4 minutes before your pasta is cooked, cook the spinach.

Cooking the Spinach, an Alternative
Because I hate watery spinach (and so should you...) I microwave mine. It only takes 3 minutes. If your spinach comes in a plastic wrapping bag, pop some holes in it and put that in the microwave (careful, it will get hot!). If you have bought loose fresh spinach, put it in a (microwave safe) bowl, cover it, and microwave for the same amount of time.

Now that the spinach is cooked, add it to the pan with the garlic and the onion. Add the ricotta and lemon zest. Drain the pasta, add the pasta to the pan and mix the ingredients. Shave over the parmasan and taste. Season well - this dish needs quite a bit of salt and pepper.