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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Pasta, Peas and Ricotta Fake-Bake

I know it's not a huge landmark just yet, but this is my 60th post! I'm looking forward to 100 and wondering what I should make to celebrate :)

I was getting ready to make (er, possibly go get) lunch the other day, and I persuaded myself into staying home and making lunch here. Smart move, right?! I already purchased the ingredients to make this recipe, so why not make it? This recipe came from Rachel Ray's Big Orange Book, and I thought it was really really tasty. I haven't been 'wowingly' impressed by each and every recipe in this cookbook, but this recipe was definitely WOW! So yummy!
Ingredients

salt
1/4 lb penne or rigatoni or whole wheat pasta
1 tablespoon EVOO
1 tablespoon butter
2 scallions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup frozen peas
black pepper
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, 3 to 4 springs, finely chopped
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Directions
Bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Salt the water, add in the pasta, and cook to al dente. Reserve 1/3 cup of the pasta cooking liquid before you drain the pasta.

Preheat the broiler.

Heat the EVOO and butter in a small or medium skillet. Add the scallions and garlic and saute for 3 to 4 minutes, then add in the peas and cook for 2 minutes to heat through. Season with salt, pepper, the lemon zest, and thyme. Add in the drained pasta and reserved cooking water to the skillet along with the ricotta and toss to combine; adjust the seasonings. Top the pasta with the grated cheese, and place the skillet under the broiler to brown 3 minutes.


This is a great meal for one, but I actually doubled the recipe when I made mine because I wanted some left over for my sous chef to take to work. Hopefully he's enjoying some right now! This recipe tastes great leftover, and you can definitely make this easily for yourself. Let me know what you think if you make this!

1 comment:

  1. I always love checking your posts as a quick break from work - great meal ideas! Unfortunately today it's only 25 minutes until lunch and my stomach is growling. Looking at this post I want to eat my hand I'm so starving! I seriously doubt the chemical plant cafeteria will have anything this tasty ;)
    Keep em comin'!

    ReplyDelete