Pasta veloce un pò storta – Maccheroni tricolore a spirale con ricotta, rucola, olive, e pinoli

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All my favorite ingredients in one dish…but I have no idea what the technical name of this pasta is, it’s not really fusilli since they’re hollow like maccheroni maybe they could be twisted maccheroni?

I had leftover ricotta that I used stuffing ravioli this weekend, I thought to make some tasty pasta dish with that ricotta. I have never found a great ricotta unfortunately, so I used the Whole Foods one. I should try making it some day, In know it’s a quite easy process. Ricotta comes in different textures, you have the ricotta secca, or ricotta salata, which is the dry and salted one that is hard, therefore needs to be grated and used mainly in the South of Italy like Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria, etc… I used ricotta fresca in this pasta that is somehow my favorite.

If you’re in a hurry, have no time to cook but still don’t want to eat a sandwich, this is the perfect meal, nothing needs to be cooked other than pasta, and is ready in 15 minutes. Actually as odd as it may seem, I never eat sandwiches, I don’t know why, I am not a fan of tons of bread with some cold ingredients in the middle. I know sandwiches can be gourmet and wonderful, but if I have to spend 30 minutes making a gourmet sandwich, I prefer to eat an easy pasta dish like this one.

When cooked rucola looses a little of its strong flavor, it’s not quite as peppery as when raw but you still taste its flavor in a more sublte way. You can cook spinach the same way, adding it to the cooking pasta pot.

Ingredients for 2

  • 150 g vegetable pasta
  • 3 tbs ricotta
  • 1 cup rucola
  • 2 tbs sundried tomatoes, diced
  • 2 tbs kalamata olives, chopped
  • 1 tbs pine nuts
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a pasta bowl, except for the rucola and the ricotta. Bring water to a boil, add salt, add pasta. 30 seconds before pasta is cooked, add rucola to the pot, stir gently. After 30 seconds, drain pasta, and add to the bowl with the other ingredients. Mix well, at the end add 2 tbs ricotta, mix gently. Top with the extra tbs of ricotta and add a good quantity of freshly ground pepper. Serve hot.