Baked Spinach with Spaghetti

Sometimes before my children even finish their breakfast, they are already inquiring about what’s there for lunch or dinner.  Before today has even started, they want to know what is going to be done for the weekend.  If they were good planners or strategists, I could understand them asking these questions.  But they are just 14 and 10 years old – why do they have to know what even I sometimes have not bothered to think through.  Why not enjoy what’s in the moment?

A lot of information is available at our fingertips these days.  I put on my digital television and have the program schedule for over 100 channels for the next week in seconds.  I log on to my internet provider and I can see how much my internet usage has been over the past days, how much I need to pay them for my bills and all the upgrades I can get if I just agree to pay them a few euros more.  I log on to a news website, and all articles I might find interesting are suggested to me based on my past reading statistics.  Are we getting overloaded with information?  Do surprises scare us?

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

800 grams Spaghetti or Fettuccine

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups milk

4 tablespoons cheddar cheese, grated

1 teaspoon black pepper powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 eggs

1 cup dried soya

500 grams spinach

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Salt to taste

Method:

1. If the soya pieces are not pre cooked, wash and soak them in water for 20 minutes.  Squeeze out the water and keep aside.  
2. Wash and drain the spinach leaves.  In a big vessel, blanch the spinach.  Drain the water and cut roughly and keep aside.  
3. Heat the butter in a pan and add the flour and stirring continually.  When a nice aroma comes, add the milk gradually still stirring.  
4. When the sauce thickens, add the cheddar cheese, salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper.  
5. As soon as the cheese has melted, add the eggs and beat them in the sauce.  
6. Now add the blanched and drained spinach and soya pieces.  Mix well. Put off the flame and keep aside. 
7. Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions.  From the pictures you can see that I have used fettuccine which takes lesser time to cook than spaghetti.  Drain and keep aside.  
8. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.  Oil a baking tray and add the spinach sauce and spaghetti. Mix well.  Garnish with parmesan cheese and put in oven for 15 minutes.  This can be served warm or cold.