Lunch/Dinner Recipe 8: Buckwheat Pasta with Mushroom and Spinach Sauce

This is what I would consider a real 'comfort' meal - a healthier version of the creamy mushroom sauce you would normally have with pasta and wonderful on a cold winter's night. If you are looking for a slightly bigger meal you can accompany the pasta dish with either some grilled chicken breast or a nice salad.

Serving 4
400 g pasta (I used buckwheat because I had some in my pantry, but corn or any other glutenfree pasta will work)
400 g mixed mushrooms (I used chestnut and shitake but any type of mushroom will do)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
3-4 spring onion, finely chopped
200 g fresh ricotta cheese
80-100 g fresh spinach, roughly chopped
A handful of flat leafed parsley, chopped
Season with salt, pepper and a small squeeze of lemon juice
Olive oil 

Mushroom and Spinach Sauce
Wash and cut the mushroom into smaller pieces. Heat up about a tblsp of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add the garlic and spring onion and sautee briefly. Before the onion turns brown add the mushroom. Cook for 5-7 minutes at medium heat after which you add the ricotta cheese. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and a little bit of lemon juice (don't overdo the lemon juice as you risk that the ricotta cheese splits and gets really grainy - it is already a bit grainier than what a normal cream would be). Once you are happy with the taste add flat leafed parsley and just before the pasta is cooked, add in the spinach so that it is only in there for 1-2 minutes and gently wilts.

Mix the pasta and sauce and serve.