Recipe of the Week - Linguine with Lemon, Spinach, and Garlicky Breadcrumbs

Description

One of the best parts of winter? Cooking up tasty bowls of pasta full of local greens like spinach. Put your 'I wish winter was over' hopes on hold for just long enough to devour this recipe from Wisconsin from Scratch.

Ingredients

Preparation

1. Coat both sides of bread slices with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cut garlic clove in half and rub cut sides on both sides of each slice of bread; reserve garlic clove. Place bread on a foil-lined baking sheet on the top rack of the oven, and turn on the broiler. Broil bread, flipping once, until both sides are golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side.

2. Place toasted bread, reserved garlic clove, and parsley in a food processor and process until crumbs are formed, about 20-30 seconds. Set breadcrumb mixture aside.

3. Cook linguine in a large pot of well salted, boiling water until just past al dente - about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving ¼ cup of the cooking liquid.

4. In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Add the hot linguine and reserved ¼ cup of pasta water and mix until mascarpone is melted and coats pasta.

5. Heat remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan over medium heat, add spinach and red pepper and cook until spinach is just wilted, about 2 minutes.

6. Add spinach to pasta, mix to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with bread crumb mixture and serve immediately.

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