This low fat pasta recipe is a perfect choice for someone looking for a delicious meal that has low calorie and low fat content. It’s the best meal especially for someone on diet or who is in progress of losing weight. This low fat pasta recipe contains a mere 7.2g of fat, out of which 3.9g is saturated fat. It’s highly packed with calcium and protein as well as high fiber.

Pipe with Ricotta, Saffron and Spinach

The background of this low fat pasta recipes originates from Sicily and Sardinia in which tossing pasta in ricotta cheese is highly popular. It’s an easy to prepare pasta meal and the ingredients are simple in the sense that they are easily available in local stores. For best result, use fresh white ricotta.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

• 1 small pinch of saffron threads
• 300g/11oz/2 ¾ cups of dried pipe
• 300-350g/11-12oz fresh spinach, stalks removed
• Nutmeg
• 250g/9oz/generous 1 cup ricotta cheese
• Salt and ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Pecorino cheese, to serve

Step by Step Guides:
1. In a large pan or pot, pour roughly 2 to 3 ml of water. Add some salt and turn to high heat. When the water starts to boil, cook the pasta according to the packet instruction for the exact amount of time.

2. While waiting for the pasta to be cooked, in a separate bowl, soak the saffron threads in 60ml/4tbsp warm water.

3. At the same time, wash the spinach and put the leaves in a pan. Don’t use extra water for the spinach. Leave the spinach in the pan as it is. A little water on the leaves is fine.

4. After that, season the spinach with freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

5. Cook the spinach with the pan covered. Turn to medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes. Occasionally open the cover and stir the spinach so that they are cooked evenly. When the spinach is tender enough, transfer it to a colander and press to extract as much liquid as possible. Chop the spinach into pieces when it’s dried enough.

6. Next is the ricotta cheese that needs to be placed in a large bowl for mixing purpose. Add in the saffron water to the ricotta cheese. Additionally, add the finely chopped spinach and toss the mixture so that they are mixed evenly. Pour in some pasta cooking water occasionally to loosen the mixture.

7. Season the ricotta cheese mixture well with salt and ground black pepper.

8. In the large bowl with the ricotta mixture, add the drained pasta into it. Toss the paste well so that all the ricotta mixture is mixed evenly with the pasta. If needed, add a little of the pasta cooking water for the pasta to be mixed well.

9. When the pasta is well mixed, serve immediately. Sprinkle with Pecorino to taste.

Nutritional information per portion: Energy 258kcal/1089kj; Protein 11.2g; Carbohydrate 39.2g of which 3.7g is sugar; Fat 7.2g of which 3.9g is saturated fat; Cholesterol 18mg; Calcium 98mg; Fiber 5.2g; Sodium 72mg.