So as promised I'd share with you all what I did with my newly made cheese. I found a recipe online from Ciao Italia and made her Ricotta Cheese Sauce with some pasta. You can find the recipe here.
Here is my take on the recipe and it was so good!
I used pretty much the same ingredients with a few differences:
- The ricotta cheese I made was from 2% milk instead of whole milk and I used all of it which was a little more than what the recipe called for.
- I added salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to my ricotta
- I also added garlic powder (to taste) to the sauce. When I make anything Italian I always like to add it because it enhances the flavor, but it's optional.
- I reserved about 1/2 cup of pasta water instead of 1/3. It's better to have too much than not enough. This allows you to thin your sauce but retain flavor. Many cooks use pasta water to help create more sauce and a little more flavor.
- Since Parmesan is a low lactose cheese, I mixed it with some freshly grated Peccorino Romano (a sheep's milk cheese with low lactose) to give it an extra kick. Peccorino is a little on the salty side so it adds another layer of flavor.
**When cooking your pasta always salt your water and add a few drizzles of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). Many people forget this step, but it is very important because it is the only time you can season your pasta while it cooks.
Mmm! The rigatoni is al dente! Don't over cook your pasta because it will become mushy.
- Once you add your sauce ingredients, wait until after you mix these to add your pasta water.
- I added tomatoes as a garnish to give it some color. I can say I was pretty happy with the result. Next time I think I'll try to make lactose free mozzarella and ricotta so I can attempt lasagna!
0 comments