Candace in the Kitchen

Archive for the ‘pasta’ Category

I’ve tried lots of marinara recipes and while this isn’t exactly what I’m looking for it’s pretty good.

Making the ricotta was SO easy. I think I may drop the lemon juice down to 1 tablespoon because I could taste the lemon in the final product.

Marinara:

2 large cans San Marzano tomatoes

1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled

2 t salt

1/2 t red pepper flakes (or to taste)

olive oil

sugar

additional salt as needed

dried herbs (I used an Italian herb blend) to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°

Put all items into a large ovenproof pot and drizzle with olive oil

Cover and cook in oven for one hour

Remove from oven and puree with an immersion blender. (You could also put through a food mill, blender or food processor.)

After tasting add sugar and salt and dried herbs to taste.

Ricotta:

Ingredients:

1 quart whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 T lemon juice (see above, I will just use 1 T next time)

1-2 T fresh herbs, minced

Directions:

Combine milk, cream and salt in a 2qt saucepan over medium heat

Put a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl

Stir occasionally to prevent scorching

Once mixture reaches a steady simmer pour in lemon juice

Stir to combine and let simmer for 1 minute. Stir once more and let simmer for another minute.

Remove from heat and pour into strainer

Stir gently to remove liquid

Let sit for 30 minutes to one hour to remove all liquid from the cheese

Put into a medium bowl and add fresh herbs and more salt if needed

Serve marinara over pasta and top with ricotta

This was really good. I hate olives, so I didn’t include them, but I might try one day. I also omitted the capers because it looked like my jar had stared overflowing or something :-/.

• 1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta
• Kosher salt
• Olive oil
• 1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
• 3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced (I omitted)
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, medium-diced
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:

nocoupons

• 5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 6 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, diced
• 1 teaspoon capers, drained (I omitted)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned (I only used about 1/2-3/4 cup)

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.