Don't forget to eat your greens

I'm reposting this entry cause I was finally able to upload my photos.

Thursday's lunch was a delicious spread: fettucine with lemon, chili flakes and creamy spinach, plus white bean & roasted garlic spread, and sliced heirloom tomatoes w/ olive oil served on rustic sourdough bread. Damn do I love living in California.

Here is the recipe for this very simple, light, and incredibly tasty pasta dish that I adapted from Celia Brooks. The recipe originally appeared in the current issue of Food & Wine Magazine:

First, put on the pot of water to boil the pasta.

While the water is heating, prep your ingredients: mince 4 cloves of garlic, finely chop the zest of 2 lemons and set aside about 1 or 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Thinly slice a handful of fresh basil leaves. Have a healthy sprinkling of red chili flakes handy, as well as some salt & fresh ground pepper, and some parmesan. You will also need about 4 to 6 generous handfuls of baby spinach, and olive oil for sauteeing. Lastly, take about 1 1/2 cups of plain lowfat yogurt, and whisk 1 tablespoon of all purpose flower into it.

Once you add the pasta to the water, start the sauce. Heat some olive oil in a skillet and sautee the garlic and chili flakes over medium heat for a couple minutes. Add the yogurt mixture and simmer for a couple minutes, stirring frequently. Add the spinach 1 handful at a time, and cook just until wilted, stirring all the while. Now turn off the heat and add the lemon zest & juice, and season w/ salt & pepper. Drain the pasta as soon as it's ready, and toss it with the sauce. Garnish w/ parmesan and fresh basil.

Enjoy!