To start with, add ricotta to a bowl and season it with salt and pepper. Keep it aside for now.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add olive oil, stir it and then add pasta to it. Let it cook for about 8-10 minutes until it becomes tender.

Now, carefully drain the pasta in a colander and keep it aside. Reserve one cup of pasta water so that you can use it to make the sauce.

While the pasta is cooking, you can start preparing the sauce. Start with toasting the pine nuts if you want to add them to your pasta.

Take a large skillet or a saucepan and add the nuts to it. Cook them on medium heat, stirring occasionally so that they don't burn. Once they are ready, transfer them to a small bowl. You can opt-out of this step if you are not adding pine nuts to your pasta.

Now add butter to the same pan or skillet and let it melt over medium heat. Add minced garlic and saute it until it turns golden brown. This will take about 2 minutes.

As soon as the garlic is done, add spinach to your pan. Mix it properly so that all the leaves get enough heat. You can also add the pasta water at this stage to help the spinach wilt. 

Sprinkle salt on the sauce now. Then add heavy cream and stir it well. Cook until the sauce becomes thick and then you can add more spices like pepper and salt if you want.

Now, add the pasta to this sauce and toss until all the pasta is covered with sauce.

Stir and cook for a minute if you feel like the sauce is not thick enough. If it is good to go, then turn off the heat and add ricotta to it. Mix it well and season the pasta again if you want.

Serve it on a plate and top with toasted pine nuts. You can garnish it with one or two basil leaves.