Fusilli with Creamy Mascarpone Sauce

Recipes, Worknight Dinners

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There are many instances in life where I feel conflicted.

Oddly, some of the larger, more impactful decisions that I’ve made in life have been easy for me.

Moving halfway across the country, leaving jobs, choosing apartments – that’s all easy peasy for me.

But deciding what I want to have for dinner?

Too hard to decide., it’s usually after a long day of working, the gym and who knows what else – so the last thing I feel like doing is waiting for something to cook.

Sometimes all you need is one rock-star ingredient, one fancy, hard-to-pronounce food item to jazz up an otherwise basic, boring dish. For me, recently, that ingredient has been mascarpone cheese.

Mascarpone is an Italian triple-cream cheese made from Crème fraîche, citric acid and occasionally, buttermilk. It’s thicker and sweeter than typical cream cheese and it’s usually the primary ingredient in dessert favorite, tiramisu.

Even though it’s great in desserts and even appetizers like warm cranberry compote on biscuits I most recently whipped up a quick mascarpone cream sauce for pasta that was so good I almost forgot I was eating a quick dinner in my own kitchen.

Fusilli with Creamy Mascarpone Sauce
Author: 
Recipe type: Worknight Dinners
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2-4 servings
 
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces (1/2 average box) fusilli or other corkscrew shaped pasta
  • 4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves (about 2 large handfuls)
  • 1 cup mascarpone cheese
  • ½ stick butter (2 ounces)
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • ¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
  • Heavy cream, as needed
  • White pepper (to taste)
Instructions
  1. Prepare pasta according to directions on package. Meanwhile, melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add mascarpone cheese into the pan once butter has melted and stir until all mascarpone cheese has melted. Add mascarpone cheese into pan after butter has melted, and stir until the mascarpone has all melted
  2. Add the parmesan cheese at once and stir to mix off the heat (the sauce will become lumpy if it gets too hot with the parmesan added). Stir in nutmeg until blended.
  3. To thicken sauce, add heavy cream in small increments (I added about ⅛-1/4 cup, total.  My sauce was a little on the thicker side).
  4. When pasta is nearly cooked (about 2 minutes before done) add fresh spinach. Let cook until spinach begins to wilt. Drain and toss with mascarpone sauce. Season to taste with white pepper. Garnish with additional parmesan cheese, if desired.
 

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14 Comments

  • Reply
    HungryMamma
    March 13, 2013 at 2:10 pm

    LOVED THIS! Thank you for all of your delicious recipes! Don’t know what I’d do without In Good Taste!

  • Reply
    Bernadette
    June 7, 2010 at 10:11 pm

    This sounds great I can’t wait to try it. I might switch the order around with the sauce. Make a roux (flour and butter) and a bit of milk to thicken the sauce and adding cheese near the end. thanks for posting I’ll try this asap

  • Reply
    leslie
    May 18, 2010 at 10:38 pm

    This is the perfect little pasta dish! Perfectly easy and quick!

  • Reply
    runnerforever
    May 18, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    This looks really tasty although pretty rich.

  • Reply
    Kelly
    May 17, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    I’m terrible at deciding what to cook. My shopping list always gets planned on weekends and sometimes I sit around for hours just deciding what to make.

  • Reply
    Sues
    May 17, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    I always say I love cooking, but I hate making the decision of WHAT to cook 🙂
    This looks awesome. Delightfully creamy and simple 🙂

  • Reply
    Nichole
    May 17, 2010 at 11:14 am

    Not going to lie, I was intimidated by Mascarpone, but this looks amazing and definitely doable.

  • Reply
    kat
    May 17, 2010 at 10:12 am

    never think of it for savory dishes

  • Reply
    Michelle @ Give Me the Almond Butter]
    May 16, 2010 at 7:25 pm

    Ahhh I’m definitely craving this right now 🙂

  • Reply
    mandy
    May 16, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    Ummmm, this looks beyond delicious and I will be busting this up one evening this week. I live spinach and pasta.

  • Reply
    Joanne
    May 16, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    Mascarpone definitely has a way of added a WOW factor to whatever it touches. I absolutely love the stuff…it almost makes you feel like you’re eating at a restaurant. This looks like one fantastic pasta dish!

  • Reply
    Kalyn
    May 16, 2010 at 8:38 am

    I’m imagining how good this must taste!

  • Reply
    Daryl
    May 16, 2010 at 8:31 am

    Parents donot have favorite child. We love you both the same 🙂

  • Reply
    CeCe Savage
    May 16, 2010 at 4:28 am

    This sounds soooo good!
    Do you think it could work with a different cream sauce? I’ve never been a fan of mascarpone in savory dishes.

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