Creamy Leek Spinach Pasta Food

CHEESY LEEK & SPINACH PASTA

Steps:

• Melt the butter with the oil in a large pan, tip in the leeks and splash in a little hot water. Cover and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until no longer squeaky.
• While the leeks are cooking, boil the penne in salted water according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile, tip the crème fraîche, sundried tomatoes and mustard into the leeks, add three-quarters of the cheese and season well. Stir until the cheese melts. Take off the heat.
• Drain the pasta, reserving the cooking water. Tip the pasta into the sauce and stir, adding enough cooking water to make the sauce coat the pasta. Stir in the spinach, a big handful at a time, until it wilts, splashing in a little more water if needed. Toss in the remaining cheese and serve.

PASTA WITH CREAMED LEEK AND SPINACH

Steps:

• In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta al dente, drain, reserving a bit of the water for thinning sauce.
• Meanwhile, in a large deep skillet, heat the oil. Add the chopped leek and cook over moderate heat until softened about 10 minutes. Add the cream and simmer over moderate heat until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until spinach wilts, about 2 minutes.
• Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and toss over medium low heat until the pasta is coated with the sauce. Remove from heat and add the basil. Season with salt pepper and nutmeg if desired. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little bit of the warm pasta water to thin the sauce. Top with fresh Parmesan cheese.

CHEESY LEEK AND SPINACH PASTA

Steps:

• Melt the butter with the oil in a large pan, put in the leeks and splash in a little hot water.
• Cover and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until no longer squeaky.
• While the leeks are cooking, boil the penne in salted water according to the packet instructions.
• Meanwhile, add the creme fraiche and mustard into the leeks, add three-quarters of the cheese and season well.
• Stir until the cheese melts.
• Season the leeks mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Take off the heat.
• Drain the pasta, reserving the cooking water.
• Pour the pasta into the sauce and stir, adding enough cooking water to make the sauce coat the pasta.
• Add crushed red pepper flakes, if using.
• Stir in the spinach, a big handful at a time, until it wilts, splashing in a little more water if needed.
• Toss in the remaining cheese and serve.

CREAMY SALMON AND LEEK PASTA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain and return to the pot.
• Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir leek in butter until slightly softened, 6 to 7 minutes; season with salt. Pour white wine and lemon juice over the leeks, and bring to a boil while scraping any browned bits of food from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer until most of the liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes.
• Stir creme fraiche, mustard, and 1 pinch cayenne pepper into the leek mixture. Reduce heat to low and let cook until warmed, about 5 minutes. Add salmon to sauce; cook and stir until salmon starts to flake and is no longer pink in the center, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in cilantro. Pour sauce over spaghetti; toss to coat. Garnish with a pinch of cayenne pepper.

ONE-POT CREAMY PASTA AND GREENS

Steps:

• In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until softened, 2 to 4 minutes.
• Add the 5 cups milk, spinach, lemon peel and 2 teaspoons salt. Cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the frozen spinach with your spoon, until the spinach is softened and the milk is just simmering, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Add the pasta and cook, stirring often and vigorously, until the pasta is al dente, 20 to 25 minutes, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain a gentle simmer. If it looks dry at any point, add more milk. The mixture will continue to thicken as it sits, so it's OK if the sauce looks a little soupy.
• Once the pasta is cooked, turn off the heat, discard the lemon peels, and stir in the Parmesan until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve with more Parmesan.

CREAMED SPINACH PASTA

Steps:

• Add the ricotta to a large bowl; season well with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water and drain.
• Prepare your sauce while the pasta cooks: If using, cook the pine nuts in a deep 12-inch skillet over medium heat until toasted, stirring occasionally to make sure they do not burn, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl.
• Wipe skillet clean and melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and sauté until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach, stirring it in by the handful if needed, and cook until it wilts, adding a few tablespoons of the pasta water to help it along if needed, about 4 minutes. Season with salt.
• Add the cream, bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until sauce begins to thicken slightly, about 2 minutes more. Stir in the nutmeg then season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked pasta directly to the skillet and toss until the noodles are glossy with sauce.
• Turn off heat and stir in the prepared ricotta, thinning the sauce with a bit of pasta cooking water if needed. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Divide among bowls. Top with pine nuts, if using, and pass grated pecorino or Parmesan at the table.

CHICKEN AND LEEK PASTA

Steps:

• Use a vegetable peeler to peel zucchini and carrot into fine slices. Cut slices lengthwise into thin ribbons, similar to the tagliatelle; set aside.
• Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken and fry until seared, 3 to 4 minutes. Add leeks and continue to fry until softened, about 3 minutes.
• Add 1 cup chicken broth, cream, white wine, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce thickens, 6 to 8 minutes. Keep warm.
• Meanwhile, bring remaining chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan. Add vegetable ribbons and tagliatelle. Cook at a boil until tagliatelle is tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes.
• Drain tagliatelle and serve, adding warm chicken-leek mixture on top.

FRESH LEEK AND SPINACH PASTA

Steps:

• Slice up the light green sections of the leeks. Use as much as possible, it will cook down quite a bit! Put into a colander and rinse the sand/dirt off.
• Slice the red pepper into long thin slices.
• I get these nice little stuffed peppers from the deli/olive bar. Squeeze the cream cheese out and set aside. Cut the hot pepper into small bits (~ 1/2 cm x 1/2 cm).
• Get enough water into one pot for the pasta and start bringing to a boil. (Add salt to water and pasta once it's boiling).
• In the meantime, heat a nonstick fry pan (that will be large enough for the full 2 servings of pasta) over med-high heat.
• Add olive oil to the pan and heat.
• Add the leeks and red pepper. Saute for about 3 minutes.
• Add the hot pepper. Saute another 5 minutes. The leeks should just start to brown (but don't burn them!).
• While sauteeing, add the spinach to the colander and rinse.
• Toss the sun-dried tomatoes and the olives in with the leeks. (If adding meatless sausage or tuna, this would be a good time to add it, too).
• Reduce the heat to med-low and saute for another couple of minutes.
• Add the reserved cream cheese and mix all together. Add the tomatoes.
• Once the pasta is cooked, pour gently over the spinach and drain.
• Crumble the feta cheese into the vegetables.
• Add half pasta to pan. Add pesto and stir.
• Add rest of pasta/spinach to pan. (If I'm not using pesto, I usually drizzle another tbsp of olive oil in at this point).
• Adjust to low heat. Cover and heat for 2 minutes.
• Stir everything together and serve.