Pasta con la ricotta

Pasta with Ricotta is one of my favorite Italian lunches. It’s fast, easy, and surprisingly healthy for a “cheesy pasta”.

Ingredients

250g pasta ditalini (short tubes, can be substituted with macaroni) Salt (for boiling the pasta)
250g ricotta (preferably fresh)
Peperoncino and black pepper to taste



Bring a large pot of water to boil and add salt and pasta. While pasta is cooking spoon the ricotta into a bowl.

When the pasta is nearly done, spoon some of the salty pasta broth on to the ricotta and mix. Continue to add broth until it reaches a creamy texture. (How much broth you add is really up to you. I prefer my ricotta on the thicker side so I only add a few table spoons of broth, but some people add enough to make it almost milky).

Strain the pasta once you've finished preparing the ricotta (you can reserve a small cup of the broth in case you need more), and stir the ricotta mixture into the pasta.

At this point you can mix in the  peperoncino and black pepper, or you can serve it separately at the table for each person to add. I like mine with lots of pepper, but AmoreMio likes it’s sweeter, so I don’t season it until it’s in individual plates.

Serve immediately.