Wednesday, August 10, 2011

What I had in the house Pasta




I learned at a very young age that pasta was one of my favorite foods.  We could be having Birthday Cake or Happy Meals or Pizza or anything under the sun and I always always always asked for Mac & Cheese.  I don't know if it was my obsession with putting the powdered cheese on top or what!

Well...this obsession stuck with me (unfortunately for my thighs)  and I am still madly in love with anything that has to do with noodles.  Heck, I even made sure to search for a stir-fry recipe the other day that had noodles in it instead of rice.  One of my favorite Italian Restaurants has this Penne with Ricotta Marinara sauce dish that I love love love.  I had some ricotta in the fridge, so I decided I'd attempt to make it!

I learned from looking at recipes the last few weeks that most of the time, pasta ends up just being what is in the house + noodles + sauce of some sort.  Here is my attempt at Ricotta Marinara!


Ingredients
  • 1 box pasta (I used some tricolored easter themed pasta I had gotten as a gift a few months back. Don't judge! I told you it was what I had in the house!)
  • 1 jar traditional Marinara Sauce
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2-3 cups button mushrooms (I ended up only using barely a cup because it was what I had left over from earlier in the week...def would add some more!)
  • 1 cup shallot-diced
  • 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (I used part skim and added a bit more as I went along)
  • 2 cloves garlic-minced (optional, but I love me some garlic)
  • Salt (to taste)
  • Fresh Ground Pepper (to taste)
  • Grated Parmesan to top


  1. Boil one large pot of water for pasta.  Prepare pasta according to directions.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add shallots and garlic and saute  (this took me about 10 minutes).
  3. Add mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes.  Season with salt & pepper to taste.
  4. Add Marinara Sauce and ricotta cheese to skillet; mix well and simmer for 4 minutes. Ricotta will become quite creamy.
  5. Pour on top of pasta and top with grated Parmesan.  

YUM! 

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