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Credit: Photo: Alex Lepe; Food Styling: Ben Weiner
I love Pasta Grannies. If you don’t know, Pasta Grannies is a video series where Vicky Bennison, a documentarian and food writer, visits nonnas all over Italy and films them making fresh pasta. The videos are heart-warming, enlightening slices-of-life that always give me inspiration in my own kitchen.
Take this video, for example, which features 80-year-old Lucia from Nardo, a town in Puglia. Lucia makes a homemade semolina dough with water, then forms thick tubes of pasta called curti e gruessi. To serve these short and thick tubes of pasta, she tosses them in red sauce, then, at the last second, she mixes in some fresh ricotta cheese.
I was stunned at the ricotta addition. Here in America, we think of ricotta as simply being a filling — something you stuff into tortellini, ravioli, and manicotti, and in between layers of lasagna. But in sections of Italy, ricotta goes into the pasta sauce itself. Almost like how a cook would use a knob of butter to smooth and enrich a sauce, employing the French concept of monter au beurre.
I was so inspired by this Pasta Grannies video that I started mixing ricotta into my red sauce and pasta at home, and the results were absolutely wonderful.
What Makes Adding Ricotta to Red Sauce So Great
Adding ricotta cheese to pasta and sauce results in a pinkish blush sauce (almost like vodka sauce!). The full-fat, creamy, sweet ricotta takes an otherwise tangy pasta dish and turns it into something richer. Whereas cheese normally lies on top of pasta, here it’s mixed throughout. As a result, every bite of pasta is full-bodied. The dish looks unique, too — little dots of ricotta spread throughout the sauce, almost like polka-dots. It’s an easy, no-fuss way to get the richness of ricotta and sauce without going through the trouble of making manicotti or ravioli.
Tips for Adding Ricotta to Red Sauce
I find that 1 1/2 cups of full-fat ricotta cheese is perfect mixed into a well-sauced pound of dried pasta.
Add the ricotta at the end! Make sure the pot of pasta and sauce is stirred well. Turn the heat off, then add the ricotta to the sauce, stirring to incorporate the cheese thoroughly.
Think about garnishing with tender green herbs. Torn fresh basil, chopped parsley, and even chopped fresh oregano complement this cheesy pasta well.
Consider making your own ricotta cheese. It’s really easy, and fresh ricotta is almost always better than the store-bought stuff. If you can find store-bought ricotta cheese that doesn’t use gums and stabilizers, then go for it. Consider visiting your local Italian deli or specialty store for the good stuff.
Further Reading
Unlock Weekly Recipes You Won’t Find Anywhere Else
20 One-Pot Dinners for When You Don’t Feel Like Doing the Dishes
20 Impossibly Easy Dinners You Can Make with 3 Ingredients
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