I feel like ricotta is usually an accoutrement in a carb-centric dish. It’s a layer in lasagna or a dallop on pizza. But rarely is it an entrée’s entire personality…at least not in my house. But when I had some leftover, I decided to turn it into a pasta sauce of its own. The ricotta was the sauce, rather than being the body for a puréed vegetable, for example.
I first sautéed some minced garlic in butter. Then I added a few large spoonfuls of ricotta, along with a bit of parm for the saltiness. Once it started getting…saucy, I added frozen peas, bacon bits (these uncured ones from TJ’s, chopped, refrigerated pancetta works too), and pasta water. Toss it with linguine and top with more parm. Salt and pepper, obviously.
It could not have been easier and, yes, it is a cheese sauce, but there’s no heavy cream. And ricotta isn’t the least healthy cheese out there, which means I was able to make a creamy pasta like my kid requested without feeling toooo awful about it. When it comes to both effort and flavor, this feels back to basics, which is often exactly what we need.
