Ingredients (serves 4-6 people)
400-500g (3/4- 1 lb.) of short pasta (see Notes)
200-250g (7-8 oz.) of canned tomatoes, whole or crushed, or passata (see Notes)
A garlic clove, peeled and slightly crushed
Olive oil
250-300g (7-8 oz.) of ricotta (or to taste)
Salt, to taste
Grated parmesan cheese (to taste)
Optional:
A fresh basil leaf or two
Directions
Put the water on the boil for the pasta.
Meanwhile, begin your sauce: add the tomato, a drizzle of olive oil, the whole garlic clove, the basil (if using) and a pinch of salt to a heavy saucepan or pot and let it simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, just enough to lightly cook the tomato and meld the flavors—or, if you like you can keep it at the barest simmer until the pasta is done. Remove the garlic clove.
When the water comes to a boil, salt it generously. Then add your pasta and cook it al dente.
When the pasta is done, drain it—but not too well—and add it to the pot with the tomato sauce over very gentle heat. Mix well, then add a few dollops of ricotta, enough to coat the pasta nicely but not enough to ‘bury’ it. I usually don’t measure, I just mix the pasta after adding each dollop to see if I need more and keep adding until I reach the consistency I want. 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. (Remember, ricotta is rather bland and you’ll need to season well.)
Top with some more grated parmesan cheese if you like, and serve immediately.
NOTES: This sauce goes with almost any kind of short pasta. I think rigatoni or paccheri are particularly nice made this way. In Puglia, they would use orecchiette. For this meal, I took curly lasagna noodles (sometimes called reginette) and broke them into short lengths.
The simple tomato sauce can be made from canned tomatoes that you have squeezed between your fingers (if they are of proper quality, they should melt down in no time into a sauce) or crushed tomatoes (which will give you a more assertive tomato flavor) or sieved tomatoes in jars, known as passata. You may have noticed that, exceptionally, this tomato sauce does not begin by frying the garlic in oil. Instead, you just add the garlic and oil, raw, directly into the tomatoes. Angelina used to make tomato sauce this way sometimes. It makes for a lighter, mellower tasting sauce, with just the barest hint of garlic, which is just what you want here to complement the delicate flavor of the ricotta.
You can also make this sauce entirely in bianco—just add the ricotta to the cooked pasta with salt and some of the pasta water. It’s surprisingly good. Now that’s what I call simple cooking.
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Thanks, Xean! It is pretty yummy, if I do say so myself!
beautiful! and looks so yummy!
Thanks, gals. Simplicity, as wise person once said, is the highest form of sophistication.
I love ricotta and I am always forgetting to get some – or better, make some – and use it as the star in a dish like this. Simple perfection.
Ricotta is a brilliant condiment for pasta. My family loves when I prepare our fave dish!
And @Manu: Many, many thanks for your kind gesture. It's a real honor coming from such a fantastic cook and blogger!
Thanks, friends, for all your wonderful comments, as always. And @Ciao Chow Linda: do let us know how you liked it…
Hi Frank! I have a few awards waiting for you here: http://www.manusmenu.com/salted-caramel-macarons !!!
This pasta looks just unbelievable, I never learnt to make pasta in this life, but maybe I will try once again to make, because the whole family loves it!
What a simple and delicious looking meal! I love the ricotta in the tomato sauce; however, I would have to leave in the garlic clove. But then I'm one of those that believe you can never get enough garlic.
This will be on my dinner table tomorrow night – need to run out for ricotta.
Delicious! My mom's favourite pasta is just with ricotta (the “in bianco” version). Yours looks so good! Ohhh now I am hungry again and I just had lunch!!!
And if would stop spoon-feeding myself the ricotta – I'd have enough to make this tonight.
very nice Frank, this is indeed a perfect mellow, weekend meal… this is just the type of cooking I enjoy, simple and from the heart of the kitchen
I haven't tried this wonderful dish but I'm sure it's delicious. The cream sauce makes it a lovely pasta dish
Frank, would love to have you join me @ Promote Your Blog @ Shirley's Luxury Haven! DIY This X’mas With 12 Lovely Recipes! Happy Holidays!
Who wouldn't love this?
LL
I love ricotta,it's perfect for a creamy sauce pasta..have a good week…
Just lovely. So simple, and such a wonderful comfort dish for a December evening.
This looks perfect for a quick, light and delicious side. I'm looking forward to trying this soon. Thanks for sharing.
Simply delicious. I love creamy sauces and ricotta makes for a very creamy pasta!