When you bake the pasta, how do you cook it? This recipe stressed not to cook the pasta all the way through on the stove, but to leave it a bit tough in the center (al dente), as it will finish cooking in the oven.

For me, the pasta came out very nice and meaty, although I frankly would have liked it to be a bit drier/crispier on top. That's something I can fix next time by just raising the oven temp from 350 to 375 and cooking a bit longer, I think.

Fwiw: it was very good as leftovers today. In fact, the spinach taste pops out even more now that it's had time to steep in the sauce.

I am still not understanding this. If the pasta is covered in sauce/cheese, why is it dry?

I guess I didn't cover it completely with sauce.

I've used both half/half and heavy cream when making vodka sauce. Just depends what I have on hand. It really won't make much of a difference.