By Ippolita Douglas Scotti:
If you want to cook a very simple, healthy, but super-creamy and delicious pasta dish, try this beautiful recipe of pasta with ricotta (after you made your own fresh ricotta here) and fresh tomatoes. It enhances the creaminess of ricotta and has all the real Italian flavor!
You need only 15 minutes of your time. You can make the sauce while the pasta is cooking, needing just a few ingredients: your favorite kind of pasta, a good Extra Virgin olive oil, ricotta, tomatoes, grated Parmesan, and basil!
So easy, and oh so very good!
Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Ricotta
14 oz (400 g) pasta of your choice
10 oz (300 g) fresh Roma tomatoes, diced
1 garlic clove
Olive oil
10 oz (300 g) fresh ricotta (recipe)
Salt, pepper
Red chili pepper
Basil
Parmesan, grated
Bring salted water to boil for the pasta.
Meanwhile, begin your sauce:
Add the chopped tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, the whole garlic clove, the basil, and a pinch of salt to a heavy saucepan and let it simmer gently until the pasta is done. If you like, add some chili pepper flakes. You'll remove the garlic clove before you serve the sauce.
When the water comes to a boil, add the pasta and cook it al dente.
When the pasta is done, drain it—but not too well—and add it to the saucepan with the tomato sauce over a very gentle heat. Mix well, then add a few dollops of ricotta. Add a bit of the pasta water if the mixture seems too thick. Then add grated Parmesan (a spoonful per person should do) and mix again. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
Top your pasta and ricotta and more grated Parmesan cheese if you like.
Serve immediately.
Contessa Ippolita Douglas Scotti di Vigileno is a true Italian—born in Florence, Italy, from a long line of eccentric Italian aristocrats, she has traveled the world in search of adventure, romance, and magical, mouth-watering recipes. "Ippo" loves Italian history, especially as it relates to food. Author of There's a Beatle in My Soup, Curcuma e Zenzero (Ginger & Tumeric), 101 Perche Sulla Storia di Firenze (101 questions on Florence History), The Grimore, The Magic of the Moon, and Magic Herbs (all published by Newton Compton Publishers).