Spaghetti With Lemon, Black Pepper & Ricotta Recipe

Laura and I have been working our ways through Curtis Stone‘s cookbook titled Good Food, Good Life and we bumped into a few really nice pasta dishes. The first one consists of spaghetti and ricotta cheese, which I’ll share below. The second one uses bow tie pasta, along with some other pretty great ingredients. I’ll share that one next. The reason I’m going with the spaghetti today is because when I prepared this last night, I didn’t have a lot of time. I had to choose between the two dishes and this one, by far, was easier to make.

The Recipe

The best thing about this recipe is the very succinct list of ingredients. There are six in all and I’m sure you already have most of them. Take salt for instance. I bet you have that. Ground black pepper? Olive oil? Probably. At the end of it all, all you’ll most likely need to pick up for this one is the spaghetti and the ricotta cheese. Well, maybe a lemon too.

Making this dish is just as clear cut. Cook the spaghetti, make the “sauce” and combine. Serve and you’ll be enjoying a nice tasty and somewhat different spaghetti dish. Different in the sense that you likely don’t eat spaghetti that’s been mixed with lemony ricotta cheese all too often. I really liked this dish and I think you will too.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

12 Ounces Dry Spaghetti
3/4 Cup Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
2 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
Salt
Zest From 1 Lemon

Step-by-Step Instructions

If you’ve ever made pasta before, you know it’s very straightforward. Salt the water and cook. With that in mind, I’m hear to tell you that all the flair in this dish is going to come from the ricotta mix and within that is the proper salt content. When preparing this mix, be sure to salt and taste often. Since it’ll be combined with the spaghetti, you want to make sure everything is going to satisfy you.

Cook the Spaghetti

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil over high heat in a large pot. Also, add 1 tablespoon of salt to the water. Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti, stir and let cook between 8 and 12 minutes or until it’s al dente. After that, dip a measuring cup into the pasta water and reserve about 1 cup’s worth for use later on.

Finally, pour the remaining water and spaghetti into a strainer.

Prepare Ricotta Mix

While the spaghetti is cooking, in a medium sized bowl, add the ricotta, olive oil, black pepper, about 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste) and the lemon zest. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined.

Combine Spaghetti & Ricotta

Add the spaghetti to a large bowl. Using a rubber spatula, scoop the ricotta cheese mix from the medium sized bowl into the large bowl with the spaghetti. Mix both together well and add the reserved water if you need things to become more loose. Spaghetti has a tendency to tighten up after it’s cooked.

Finally, divide the spaghetti between a few bowls, serve and enjoy.

The Final Dish

I told you this was easy. After just a few minutes, I was able to plate and serve two nice bowls of this spaghetti dinner. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!