Baked Rigatoni with Spinach, Ricotta, and Fontina

Pantry cooking...not so scary after all. I was actually surprised that having everything on hand, like I coincidentally do, makes cooking really easy. I just need to remember to look for recipes that contain my pantry ingredients and cook accordingly. This way I will use what I have more frequently instead of constantly buying new. I got kind of excited this week because I started to..... run out of things! Can I get a "What, What!" How about a "Go Mama, Go Mama!" Yeah, I tend to get excited over the little stuff in life. Stuff like this Baked Rigatoni.

Believe it or not, I had all the ingredients for this recipe except for the fontina cheese (which is soooo yummy). Awesome. So, it fell under my Pantry Cooking Requirements and I allowed myself to buy the one necessary ingredient. This meal was extremely easy to make, extremely. I prepared it before taking Hudson to baseball practice and then popped it in the oven when we got back-dinner was ready in 20 minutes and my family had happy, full bellies in 5 minutes. I'm not exaggerating. I think Hudson ate his in 3 minutes and 15 seconds and then asked for another helping. The best part about it was all my kids ate SPINACH and they didn't even know it. I love how a meal can make me feel like such a smart Mom.

Baked Rigatoni with Spinach, Ricotta and Fontina

borrowed from Evil Chef Mom who found it in Food and Wine Quick From Scratch Italian Cookbook
probably 5-6

1 pound rigatoni
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed
2 cups (about 1 pound) ricotta
5 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
6 ounces fontina, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

Heat the oven to 450°. Oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the rigatoni until almost done, about 12 minutes. Drain. Put the pasta in the prepared baking dish and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Meanwhile, squeeze as much of the water as possible from the spinach. Put the spinach in a food processor and puree with the ricotta, 3 tablespoons of the Parmesan, the nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir in half the fontina. Stir the spinach mixture into the pasta. Top with the remaining fontina and Parmesan. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over the top. Bake the pasta until the top is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

To ensure you don't have any excess water in my thawed spinach, I put the spinach in a clean dish towel and wring it out like I'm doing laundry. Works like a charm.