Recipe: roasted garlic pasta salad

I've made it to a second food post! Hooray! I think my record of failing is somewhere around four posts so I'm halfway there and WILL NOT BE STOPPED. 
I saw this recipe floating around pinterest, which led me back to one of my favorite food blogs Budget Bytes. Keywords for me in this recipe were 'garlic' and 'ricotta'. Done. Like is there even any reason to add anything else? Because I would literally bathe in a tub of ricotta and then you want me to add ROASTED GARLIC? Luckily it was as delicious as I thought it would be AND it was as easy as it possibly could be. 

roasted garlic pasta salad

1 head garlic

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb.pasta shells

15 oz. ricotta cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan

to taste salt & pepper

1 cup cherry tomatoes

3 cups baby spinach

handful of basil (this is how I actually measure)

Using a sharp knife, cut approximately 1/2 inch off the top of the head of garlic. Place the garlic bulb in a small bowl or dish and drizzle 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil over the exposed cloves. Budget Bytes recommended 2 minutes in the microwave, but I went old school and roasted it in the oven for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.


Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add the pasta, and cook for 7-10 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta cooking water.


While the pasta is cooking, squeeze the garlic cloves from the head and mince well. Add the minced garlic to a medium bowl along with the ricotta cheese, a healthy dose of freshly cracked pepper, and about 1/2 tsp of salt. Add the 1/2 cup of hot, starchy pasta cooking water. Stir until it forms a smooth sauce.

Drain the pasta. Return the drained pasta to the warm pot. Add the spinach and pour the ricotta sauce over top. Slice the tomatoes and basil, add them to the pot as well. Stir until everything is well mixed. Add in the parmesan cheese and stir again. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm!

It was DELICIOUS. I don't make much pasta anymore because I ate too much of it as a kid, but this was so ricotta-y and garlic-y and the basil and spinach added the perfect freshness to it. I'll definitely be making this again and again.