A quick weeknight pasta that leans on the tang and body of farmstyle cream cheese to build a rich sauce without cream or heavy lifting. The cheese dissolves into silky coating for spinach and pasta, ready in thirty minutes.

Serves 2. 30 minutes, 25 at the stove.

About 860 calories a serving, 26 g protein, 96 g carbohydrate, 42 g fat. From USDA figures for 100% of the ingredients; amounts are the recipe's.

Cook mode

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for pasta. While it heats, mince two cloves of garlic and warm two tablespoons of oil and one tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
2. Stir the garlic into the oil for one minute until fragrant. Add five ounces of fresh spinach in handfuls, stirring to wilt it into the pan, about three minutes total. The spinach will release liquid and soften into the base.3 min
3. Drop eight ounces of pasta into the boiling water and cook until two minutes before the package says al dente. Scoop out one cup of pasta water before draining.12 min
4. Cut eight ounces of farmstyle cream cheese into rough pieces. Turn the heat under the spinach to low and add the cheese pieces, stirring until they melt into a smooth sauce, two minutes. Thin with a splash of pasta water if the sauce looks too thick.2 min
5. Tip the drained pasta into the skillet and fold to coat every strand with the cheese and spinach. Add more pasta water by the tablespoon if you need to loosen it, tossing until silky. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Note Swap spinach for any sturdy green or even broccoli florets; add them raw to wilt in the residual heat. Leftovers keep three days in the fridge and taste best stirred over low heat with a splash of water to wake the sauce. Serve with crusty bread to catch the last of the cream.