Pasta Salad with Ricotta. Lemon & Veg

Well, I bought a large container of Ricotta Cheese at Costco & thought it would be delicious in a Pasta salad. This pasta salad is mild tasting, creamy & satisfying!

I looked up a recipe and found one on Food52 that I used as inspiration!

This is very similar to a pasta I took a picture of that I posted on Facebook .. that recipe was from NYTimes cooking and was served warm.

This is a very quick & simple recipe that you can adjust to your own taste with the ingredients you have on hand using this recipe as a guide.

You should make this in the morning or a few hours before you want to eat it to give this time to chill!

The recipe calls for green beans & pea pods, you could use any vegetable you like, You could stir in some fresh spinach into the hot pasta so it can wilt, you can add fresh diced peppers, .. anything that you think might go well with the ricotta & lemon! I found that I needed to add salt so I did not put an amount of salt & pepper in the recipe… you can taste & adjust!

Ingredients

1/2 pound of fusilli or any small pasta you like. I like he3 fusilli because the ricotta gets into the ridges!

1/2 pound of green beans, trimmed & cut into 2 inch pieces

2 cups of pea pods, trimmed & cut in half

6 sun dried tomatoes, slice them & then cut the slices into half

2 cups of ricotta

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp of good olive oil

Salt & pepper

Method

1. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. When done, I like to cook my pasta past el dente but up to you! Do not drain the pasta as you will need the water to blanch the vegetables. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked pasta from the water & put into a large bowl & set aside

2. Bring the pasta water up to a boil & drop the green beans & pea pods into the water & Blanche until they get bright green. Remove from the water & put them into the bowl of pasta . You can discard the water now!

3.Let the pasta & vegetables cool completely. I put the bowl in the fridge .

4. About an hour before you want to eat this, add the remaining ingredients

5. Add the ricotta, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon juice , drizzle the olive oil in, salt & pepper…. Mix well, was taste & adjust the salt & pepper as needed

Chill in the refrigerator until ready to eat!

Enjoy!