Baked Rigatoni With Spinach, Ricotta, And Fontina

Total Time: 45 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 lb rigatoni pasta
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed
• 2 cups ricotta cheese (about 1 pound)
• 5 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, grated
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 6 ounces fontina cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

Recipe

• 1 heat the oven to 450 degrees f.
• 2 oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
• 3 in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the rigatoni until almost done, about 12 minutes.
• 4 drain.
• 5 put the pasta in the prepared baking dish and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil.
• 6 meanwhile, squeeze as much of the water as possible from the spinach.
• 7 put the spinach in a food processor and puree with the ricotta, 3 tablespoons of the parmesan, the nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
• 8 stir in half the fontina.
• 9 stir the spinach mixture into the pasta.
• 10 top with the remaining fontina and parmesan.
• 11 drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over the top.
• 12 bake the pasta until the top is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
• 13 variation:.
• 14 you can substitute another chunky pasta, such as penne rigate, penne, ziti, or fusilli. boil all of these one or two minutes less.