Skip to footer

Pasta with ham and mushrooms in a creamy ricotta sauce

Transform leftovers with fresh vegetables, swirl them together with a Parmesan and ricotta sauce, and serve on a bed of fresh pasta.

|
The Gourmand Mom
Ham and mushrooms in a creamy, cheesy spinach ricotta sauce served over a bed of fresh pasta.

If you celebrated Easter last weekend, it’s likely that you may still find yourself with an excess of boiled eggs, some ham, and maybe even some candy. With that in mind, I’ve gathered up a few tasty ideas on how to make delicious use of those leftovers on TheGourmandMom.com, including this super-simple recipe for pasta with ham and mushrooms in a creamy, cheesy spinach ricotta sauce.

Pasta with Ham and Mushrooms in a Creamy Spinach Ricotta Sauce

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if necessary

2 cups baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1/2 medium onion, finely diced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

2 cups ricotta cheese

1-1/2 cups milk

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

2 cups leftover ham, diced

1 6-ounce bag baby spinach leaves, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 pound pasta, cooked al dente

Additional Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper, for garnish

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms. Cook for 7-10 minutes until tender and lightly caramelized. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.

2. Add a touch more olive oil to the pan, if necessary, then add the onion. Cook for 5-7 minutes until tender and golden. Add the garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add the ricotta cheese, milk, and Parmesan cheese. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until hot and well blended.

3. Add the mushrooms, ham, and spinach. Gently simmer for a few minutes until the spinach is wilted. Taste and season with salt and pepper, as desired.

4. Pour the sauce over cooked pasta and toss to combine. Garnish with crushed red pepper and additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Pasta with ham and mushrooms in a creamy ricotta sauce
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/Stir-It-Up/2013/0405/Pasta-with-ham-and-mushrooms-in-a-creamy-ricotta-sauce
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe