Linguini With Creamy Spinach

Submitted by Kim D.

"This makes a wonderful meatless main dish or a side dish. I adopted this recipe from Recipezaar in August 2006. I've since made this for my family and they loved it; however, I did made one minor change to the recipe. The original recipe did not call for garlic, but I felt it would have been bland without it. --NOTE-- Frozen spinach can be used. Just thaw, rinse and squeeze water from spinach very well before adding to the skillet of butter."

 

• Ready In: 40mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) fresh spinach, prewashed and drained
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3⁄4 lb dried linguine
• 5 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

directions

1. Remove any tough stems from the fresh spinach.
2. In large frying pan, melt butter over low heat.
3. Add green onions and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add spinach and salt and stir until wilted.
5. Simmer until liquid evaporates from spinach, about 5 minutes.
6. In large pot of boiling water, cook linguini according to package directions.
7. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
8. Drain linguini and toss with 3/4 cup of pasta water, spinach mixture, cream cheese, parsley, and ground pepper.
9. If sauce seems too thick, add the rest of the reserved pasta water, otherwise you can throw out the remaining 1/4 cup pasta water.
10. Salt to taste.

Reviews

[Laureen in B.C.]

we thought this was a bit bland. if i make it again I will add some spices, but it was quick to put together.

 

[icandoit185]

This was excellent! You could easily add chicken strips if you wanted meat in it.

 

[jlcallow]

This recipe is edible. That's the best I can say about it. The use of cream cheese makes the sauce sticky and if you follow the directions and start the pasta when it says to, you really have enough time to make a bachelmel sauce or even a straight cream sauce. I will not make this again.

 

[Lady Clare]

I feel like I must have done something wrong with this. So, while it was good, it still needed more flavor- too mellow for me. However, that may just be my taste, and it was still good, I just need to add some more spice to it.

 

[winkki]

Oh my goodness, this was so good that it actually got my older kids, who are *sure* that they hate spinach, to finish what was on their plate and then ask for seconds! It is very rich and creamy, very mellow in flavor. I used a box of frozen spinach, thawed and mostly drained; the only difference in prep time was that there was a bit of extra liquid which extended the simmer time, no problem there. I also ended up adding garlic (but then again, we all love garlic, lol). I did use the full cup of pasta water, especially since my husband ended up being late and so it sat for a bit. I served this with 4 Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp #107997, which provided a nice counterpart. I also think this would be a wonderful dish with little shrimp cooked and scattered over the top of the pasta...I'm sure we'll try it that way at least once. ;o) Thanks again SO MUCH for posting a quick and easy spinach recipe that my kids will actually eat!