I haven’t posted any recipes lately, and am feeling inspired to cook a little bit lately thanks to my recent departure from a part-time, that turned full-time, that turned overtime job on this beautiful island of Hawaii. Though it was a fun experience, I am happy to be on the other side, and find time to do one of my favorite things – cook!

We had some leftover 2% milk from a recent family stay on the island, which Gary and I don’t drink. But, we do love cheese. Wala, we made a quick batch of homemade ricotta. It is the easiest recipe and the resulting creamy ricotta is perfect to add to salads, pasta, stuff into chicken or pork with sundried tomatoes. The recipe is here. We opted to use it as a topper in last night’s lemon pepper pasta. Ricotta is really best known as the cheese layered in lasagna or stuffed into pasta shells; I opted to just flake it on top of my creamy, lemony, tomato, and tarragon sauce topping lemon-pepper linguine. Cheers.

Recipe:

Lemon Pepper Pasta with Fresh Ricotta
Ingredients:

For the pasta:
1/4 cup fresh Ricotta
1 12-ounce package lemon-pepper linguine
Salt for your pasta water

For the sauce:
1 small white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 artichoke hearts (steamed or from a jar), chopped
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
juice of 2 lemons and 1 lime
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper, or to your taste
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
grated parmesan, optional

Preparation:
Add 1 tablespoon salt to a large stockpot of water and place it on the stove, but don’t heat the water yet. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat on your stove, and add onions, tomatoes, artichokes, and garlic. Stir and begin to saute. Stir in red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  Add white wine and cook to reduce by 2/3, add the stock and citrus juice, and cook to reduce by 2/3. Begin to heat the water for the pasta to create a rolling boil. Add in the herbs and cook until everything is cooked through. Add pasta to the water and cook until tender according to package instructions (usually about 10 minutes.) Reduce the heat on the sauce to low. Add the heavy cream, stir through and adjust any seasonings. Drain the pasta and add directly to the sauce. Toss to coat the pasta thoroughly and pour into a large serving bowl. Dot the ricotta over the top of the pasta, gently stir through, and serve with a sprinkle of parmesan on top, if you like.