Clay's Kitchen : Ricette Italiane (Italian Recipes)

Ricette Italiane (Italian Recipes)

© Copyright 1995-2023, Clay Irving <clay@panix.com>, Manhattan Beach, CA USA

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Pastasciutta con la Ricotta

Recipe from: Ferrante

A quick, healthy pasta dish that will work well as a light meal, if served with a tossed salad. The recipe is drawn from Giovanni Righi Parenti's La Cucina Etrusca, and though not truly Etruscan (they left no written recipes) is traditionally Tuscan (from the Casentino mountains between Arezzo and Florence) and therefore something they might have enjoyed.

1 pound of pasta
½ pound of fresh ricotta
½ packed half cup of cooked minced spinach or beet greens
1 tablespoon of melted unsalted butter
salt and pepper
nutmeg, optional
tangy Tuscan pecorino or a mild Romano

Mr. Parenti doesn't give proportions; to serve four I'd figure a pound of pasta, a half pound of fresh ricotta. If you decide to use it, you will also need a packed half cup of cooked minced spinach or beet greens.

Set pasta water to boil, salt it lightly, and put the ricotta through a strainer to soften it, then work a tablespoon of melted unsalted butter into it, and season it to taste with salt and pepper. You can also add, if you like, some cooked minced beet greens or spinach to the ricotta mixture, and in this case season lightly with nutmeg as well.

When the pasta is done drain it, and before it has stopped dripping transfer it to a bowl, Stir the ricotta into the pasta and serve with tangy Tuscan pecorino on the side — If need be substitute a mild Romano.


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