Pasta in spinach and cheese sauce with ham

Ingredients for 3 servings:

• 2 onions
• 1 clove(s) garlic, optional
• 1 chili pepper(s), red, yellow or green, optional
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pack of creamed spinach, frozen, approx. 450 g
• 200 g processed cheese
• Salt and pepper, mixed or black, freshly ground
• some lemon juice, or lemon zest or freshly grated ginger
• 300 g pasta, e.g. penne, fusilli or tortiglioni
• 150 g cooked ham, sliced

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

Peel the onions and garlic clove. Finely dice the onions and chop the garlic clove. Rinse and clean the chili pepper, cut it in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, and chop it too. Heat the olive oil in a wok or large, wide saucepan and sauté the diced onion with the chopped garlic and chili pepper until translucent. Then add the frozen creamed spinach, thaw it in the pan, and then bring to a boil briefly. Stir in the creamed cheese and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice or lemon zest or a little grated ginger. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving the pasta cooking water. Measure out about 100 ml of the pasta cooking water. Cut the cooked ham slices into strips. Add the pasta and the measured pasta cooking water, as well as half of the cooked ham strips, to the spinach in the pot and mix. Spread the remaining cooked ham strips over the top and grind a little pepper over the top. It also tastes great with Gorgonzola or Pecorino spinach, but stir in a little less processed cheese. Instead of processed cheese, you can also use tomato or pepper cream cheese.