5 Minute Blistered Summer Tomato Sauce
Easy
Ricotta Cheese Sauce
Have you ever thought of using ricotta cheese as a sauce for pasta? It is one of my favorites and the key is to use fresh, thick whole milk ricotta because the skim milk variety is too thin and watery. Lots of grated lemon zest gives this sauce a very clean taste. This sauce makes enough to dress one pound of pasta.
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese, well drained
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh grated lemon zest (from 2 large lemons)
- 1/3-cup pasta cooking water
- 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Directions
- In a large bowl whisk the ricotta cheese, salt and pepper together until well blended. Set aside.
- Cook the pasta of your choice in 4 quarts of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente, cooked through but still firm. Drain the pasta in a colander, reserving 1/3 cup of the cooking water.
- Return the pasta to the pot and add the ricotta cheese mixture, the reserved water, zest and grated cheese. Mix everything well over low heat and serve when hot.
This recipe was featured on Season 22 - Episode 2204.
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Comments
Gretchen
Hi – I watch your show with my 7 year old son who loves cooking shows! (we don’t have cable and PBS is the only channel that has anything he likes/is allowed to watch by himself!) He made the ricotta pasta sauce tonight, mostly by himself, and it was delicious! My husband and I were telling him how great it is to be able to cook for yourself, and that it is a skill you will never regret learning! He was really proud of himself! Thanks!
Gretchen and Carter – Seattle WA
PENNY WEBB
Loved the recipe. Looking for the other 2 that was done on this show with the beef shank and lemon sauce for fish or chicken.
Susan
I tried this tonight but used lemon flavored olive oil. mmmmmmmm
Janet
My daughter always wanted to try a Ricotta based sauce and as a beginner cook, this was fabulous! It was so creamy, my husband thought there was heavy cream used. We all just loved it. YUMMY
Joe Napoletano
I made linguini and this sauce with shrimp, it turned out delicious.
Hallie
I used this on my farfalle today, and I added some garlic to it. It’s such a delightfully simple sauce! Very delicious. I had some ricotta because I had meant to make stuffed shells but forgot to get shells, so I made this instead.
Hallie
I used this on my farfalle today, and I added some garlic to it. It’s such a delightfully simple sauce! Very delicious. I had some ricotta because I had meant to make stuffed shells but forgot to get shells, so I made this instead.
Ana
I just want to say that the ingredient combination is excellent, thank you for this creamy, lemony, tasty sauce! I used it for gnocchis and It was great!! Thanks!!!
Niki
This was simple and so delicious!
James
This has been a staple in my family growing up. My mom always made it and served it over spaghetti. It was always referred to as potcheese which funny i always though it was Pocci’s lol.
Anyways when i’d tell this to people nobody had a clue of what i was talking about. My mom insisted it was a thing most families did but i never found anyone else who did it. I thought they had made it up. Is there an actual name for this? How many other italian’s grew up eating this?
It’s my absolute favorite.