Baked Pasta with Spinach and Olives

Some of you will know that I posted about a Homemade Meat Sauce a few weeks ago.  A couple of knights later I was standing in front of the refrigerator wondering what I could make for dinner.

I saw we had a few jars of olives, some cherry tomatoes, spinach, the meat sauce, and shredded cheeses. I though, "I can make a baked pasta out of this.

I sliced up the green olives, tomatoes, and spinach. An easy trick for cutting leafy greens is to roll them up first like a sleeping bag. Then slice down and you'll have nice strips.

I combined all that into a glass casserole dish and added some whole wheat rigatoni pasta. I also added a little bit of chicken stock to be sure there would be enough moisture to cook the noodles. I topped it with a little more shredded cheese and some Italian bread crumbs. I was hoping for a little texture to the top of the pasta.

I covered it with aluminum foil and baked it for about 20 minutes. Then I took the foil off and cooked it for about 5-10 minutes more. Nothing here is harmful to eat raw. So you're are really just cooking it until the pasta is the consistency you like. Some people like a little chew to their "al dente" pasta.

This wasn't an overly cheesy pasta dish like lasagna. I wanted it to be somewhat light because of the spinach and tomatoes. The green onions were great because that briny saltiness played really nicely with the tomatoes and cheese.

I think this was a winner for a quick and pretty healthy meal.