Radiatori pasta with spinach and stracchino.
This pretty healthy recipe for radiatori pasta with spinach and stracchino cheese is full of protein, carbohydrates, iron, calcium, other nutrients and vitamins! A great way to get the kids to eat their greens!
Radiatori con spinaci e stracchino
One of the more modern Italian pasta shapes I really like is radiatori! Have you ever eaten it? If not ,this radiatori with spinach and stracchino is a great dish to start with. It’s quite easy to make and a tasty way to get youngsters to eat spinach! Plus it’s a pretty healthy a dish with protein, carbohydrates, iron, nutrients and vitamins all in one bowl! (scroll down for recipe)
I say radiatori is a modern pasta because it was invented in 20th century. Given that pasta is said to date back to the times of Ancient Rome and perhaps even further, that really makes this shape a very contemporary one!
There are two schools of thought on the origins of radiatori pasta. Some believe it was created at some point between the two great wars. However, the most popular opinion is that it was designed in the 1960s and is reminiscent of the shape of metallic car radiator grills or old-fashioned heating fixtures. The Italian word ‘radiatori’ translates literally to radiators in English. Some pasta makers claim to have based the design of their radiatori shape on the radiator grill of the Bugatti motor car. Given the Italians love for their car designers, that is an easy thing to believe!
Because it is, as I mentioned before, a modern pasta, there aren’t any traditional typical recipes for radiatori . But, this is a great pasta to use with creamy sauces or sauces where the ingredients are chopped into small pieces. Both the sauce and the ingredients get caught in the pasta ruffles, making each mouthful full of flavour! Radiatori pasta is also great instead of pasta tubes in baked pasta recipes or with Bolognese.
This radiatori with spinach and stracchino recipe is a perfect example of a great way to serve this pasta. The creamy cheese sauce mixed with finally chopped spinach really gets into the pasta. I also made one dish of this with cooked ham, which actually goes really well with the spinach and cheese.
Spinach and cheese are a popular combo in the world of Italian pasta, especially for filled pastas such as conchiglioni. The cheese used is very often ricotta, but I love the use of stracchino here. This cheese is an Italian cow’s-milk cheese, typical of Lombardy, Piemonte, Veneto (where I live) and Liguria.
Stracchino is consumed very young, has a very soft, creamy texture and a mild and delicate flavour. I love using it with pasta and have a great recipe called pasta roses in which I use stracchino. However, if you can’t find stracchino for this pasta with spinach recipe, you can also use crescenza (a type of stracchino), mascarpone or fresh ricotta.
Whichever cheese you use, I'm sure you will love this healthy vegetarian radiatori with spinach dish (or if you'd prefer make it with ham). I also baked the leftovers in the oven with a sprinkling of Parmesan the next day and it still tasted pretty good, So, you can make extra and eat it twice!!
If you do try this radiatori with spinach recipe, I’d love to hear what you think. Please write a comment here on the blog or post a comment on the Pasta Project Facebook page.
Your feedback means a lot to me!
Buon Appetito!
(This recipe post was originally published in 2017, but has been updated)
Radiatori can be used in these recipes too
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Radiatori with spinach and stracchino
Ingredients
- 360 g radiatori pasta (12oz) or fusilli ( I use Rummo radiatori)
- 300 g fresh or frozen spinach (10-11oz)
- 200 g stracchino cheese (70z) or ricotta, mascarpone or crescenza
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- salt to cook pasta and to taste
- black pepper to taste
- ½ glass whole milk
- 150 g cooked ham 5-6oz (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the spinach on a medium heat in a covered pot until it has softened (do not add fats, water or salt). As soon as it is ready, drain and shake or press with your hands to remove the water.
- Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. When it starts to boil add salt and bring to the boil again.
- In the meantime, finely chop the spinach and cook it for a few minutes in a frying pan with 1-2 tablespoons of heated olive oil, a pinch of salt, a pinch of nutmeg and the crushed garlic.
- Cook the pasta in the boiling salted water according to the instructions on the packet. Before draining the pasta save a cup of the cooking water.
- Puree the stracchino together with 2 tablespoons of milk in a bowl. Add a little more milk and continue to mash until you have a creamy consistency. If you want it to be more liquidy, you can add some of the pasta cooking water. You can also use a hand held blender for this.
- Remove the garlic from the spinach and mix in the stracchino cream. Add black pepper to taste.
- Add the drained pasta to the cream and spinach. Mix well and serve with grated Parmesan if required.
- I also made this dish with cooked ham. Just cut the ham into small pieces and add it to the frying pan when you are cooking the spinach and garlic.
Notes
Nutrition
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Veena Azmanov says
Healthy and super delicious pasta with all the amazing veg and cheese option.. Pasta is my all time favorite too.
Jacqui says
Thanks Veena! Yes this is a pretty healthy pasta recipe. Lots of spinach means lots of nutrients!
Marie says
Can't wait to try this! Quick question... any thoughts on using goat cheese vs stracchino and/or marscapone?
Jacqui says
Hi Marie, thanks for your comment. I think a young creamy goat's cheese would work in this recipe but it will have a stronger taste. Mascarpone is a good idea. Italians use it a lot in pasta dishes. Taleggio is also a good substitute for stracchino. It has a stronger smell but a mild flavour. Some people also recommend using brie instead of stracchino. I haven't tried that. Gorgonzola if you like it, would be very good too.
Julia says
This looks good! Is stracchino cheese similar to ricotta or is it a complete different flavor?
Jacqui says
Thank you Julia. Stracchino (also called crescenza) is more like mascarpone than ricotta. It's quite a creamy cheese!
Alexandra Shunk says
What a delicious idea! I never heard of this pasta but it looks so fun and different than your typical penne!!
Jacqui says
Grazie Alexandra! I really like radiatori pasta! Apart from the cool shape it's great with thickish sauces as bits of sauce actually get between the ruffles of the pasta pieces, making each mouthful so tasty!
Claudia Lamascolo says
I love this fresh dish and its reminds me of warm spring weather! I cant wait to make this!
Jacqui says
Claudia, I'm sure you'll love this dish! It's pretty healthy and very tasty!
Amy | The Cook Report says
I never tried this shape of pasta, it's so cool!
Jacqui says
Thanks Amy! This is a great pasta shape. I hope you'll get to try it!
Tayler Ross says
This is such a fun shaped pasta! I made this and my whole family enjoyed it very much!
Jacqui says
We love this pasta shape too Tayler! It works so well with this spinach sauce! I love that the sauce actually gets into the pasta ruffles, so every mouthful is really yummy!
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
What a delicious looking pasta dish! It looks like a great healthy dinner option.
Danielle Wolter says
i have never had this before but it sounds incredible. i love putting spinach in my pasta - it makes me feel healthy lol! that cheesy sauce looks divine.
Annie @ Annie's Noms says
I'm on a real spinach kick at the moment, I'm adding it to everything! This looks delicious and I love that you can add ham too!
Dannii says
I love spinach pasta - such a great way to have comfort food and some greens.
Julie says
What a delicious looking pasta dish! My family will love this!!
Thanks for sharing
Julie