Description
Pasta with Ricotta and Peas is a great, easy weeknight dinner that everyone will love. The ricotta creates a light and creamy sauce, and the peas provide the perfect sweet bite.
Ingredients
- ½ lb shell pasta or pasta of choice*
- 1 shallot, finely chopped*
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 cup fresh English peas removed from the pod, or 1 cup frozen green peas*
- 1 cup ricotta cheese, preferably fresh
- ½ cup (0.5oz) parmigiano reggiano cheese or domestic parmesan, freshly grated, plus more for serving*
- Zest of ½ lemon
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 1-2 minutes short of package instructions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.
- Sauté shallot: While the pasta cooks, heat a large pan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and butter, followed by the chopped shallot. Season with salt and sauté 3-5 minutes or until translucent.
- Cook peas: Add peas to pan and season with salt. Add 1 small ladle-full of pasta cooking water to the pan and boil peas until just cooked through, about 1 minute for frozen peas and 2-3 minutes for fresh peas.
- Toss pasta with sauce and serve: Add cooked pasta to pan with peas, and toss to combine. Stir in ricotta and parmesan, along with a ladleful of pasta water. Simmer until mixture thickens to a creamy sauce. Taste for seasoning. Stir in lemon zest. Spoon into serving dishes and top with a generous drizzle of olive oil, a crack of black pepper and more grated parmesan, as desired. Enjoy.
Notes
You can easily double or triple this recipe, depending on how many people you’re serving.
I actually used pipe rigate pasta in these photos but usually use shell pasta. You can also use orecchiette, penne or mezzi rigatoni.
Instead of using a shallot, you can substitute a spring onion or 1/4 cup chopped of any white or yellow onion.
13oz of fresh peas in the pod should yield about 1 cup of shucked peas.
If you’re using pre-grated parmesan cheese, start with 1/4 cup and add more as desired. The pre-grated cheese is more dense than cheese freshly grated with a microplane.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Saute, boil
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/3 of pasta
- Calories: 625
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 150mg
- Fat: 30g
- Saturated Fat: 12g
- Unsaturated Fat: 18g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 67g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 22g
- Cholesterol: 54mg
