Ricotta cheese is the key to this creamy pasta dish made without the cream. It melts down along with Parmesan into a luscious cheesy sauce, thanks to a little pasta-cooking water. For the smoothest results, use freshly grated Parmesan—pre-grated cheese often contains cellulose that can prevent melting.
Overall an easy recipe, however like other reviews the ricotta curdled probably from the lemon juice.
I added some red pepper flakes and would omit the lemon next time.
I made this tonight and the recipe instructions were incredibly off. 1. The mushrooms and spinach weren’t cooked enough. The spinach needed to be cooked prior to adding it in 2. The chicken needed to be cut after it was cooked, not before 3. The ricotta curdled 4. Nothing blended well together in the end. I would not make this again.
This has quickly become one of our favorite recipes. I've never had an issue with curdling. I do find that I need to cook the mushrooms much longer than written in order to caramelize them. It makes a ton of hearty, wonderful pasta. A little hit of crushed red pepper really brings it together.
I followed the recipe exactly. It was totally not creamy. The ricotta and Parmesan curdled and got lumpy. Haven’t tasted it yet but I’m disappointed!
