Lemon ricotta pasta with parmesan crumbs
Here’s a cheese-heavy pasta dish that’s the kind of simple thing to make when you can’t be arsed to properly cook… which, if you’re anything like us, is maybe quite often. All you do is cook some dried pasta (a tube-y one works great), then heave it into a large pan with some of the pasta cooking water, lemon, herbs, ricotta, a bit of EVOO and some seasoning. After a brief simmer and handfuls of parmesan, it’s done. Adjust the flavours to suit; use basil instead of parsley and mint, add more or less ricotta, throw in some sun-dried tomatoes, olives or capers, and add as much lemon as you care for. Chuck in some baby spinach leaves and let them wilt too, if you're feeling scurvy-ish. The crumbs are addictive but the dish is completely fine without them – in which case we’d hurl around some dried chilli flakes.
MAKES 4
400g dried rigatoni, penne or other tubular pasta
60ml (¼ cup) extra virgin oil
350g (1⅓ cups) firm, fresh ricotta
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon, or to taste
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
large handful flat leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
small handful mint leaves, coarsely chopped
50g (½ cup) finely grated parmesan, or to taste
Crumbs
120g bread (about 3 slices) crusts removed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
50g (½ cup) finely grated parmesan
For the crumbs, preheat the oven to 180˚C.
Tear the bread into coarse pieces, then place in a food processor. Using the pulse button, process until coarse crumbs form – you don’t want them too fine. Turn out onto a small baking tray, then drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil. Scatter over the parmesan, toss to combine, then bake for 30 minutes or until the crumbs are crisp and the parmesan is golden. Cool slightly, then break up into small pieces; I hack into mine using kitchen scissors. Terribly satisfying.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta for 13 minutes, or according to packet directions until al dente. Drain, saving 375ml (1½ cups) of the cooking water. Combine 250ml (1 cup) of the reserved water and the extra virgin olive oil in a large, deep frying pan and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Add the pasta and ricotta, toss to combine, then bring the liquid to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining ingredients except the parmesan, then toss to combine. Add a little more pasta cooking water if it’s looking a bit dry; you should have a smoothish sauce punctuated with blobs of ricotta, but not copious amounts of it. Season with sea salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper, toss in the remaining parmesan, then serve, scattered with the parmesan crumbs.
