Pasta with olives and ricotta cheese sauce, and crispy breadcrumb

• 10 minutes to prepare • 10 minutes to cook • Serves 4

10 MINUTES 

 

Looking for a satisfying but simple meal after a busy workday?
Today we will share with you our tasty recipe for a lemon-flavored pasta sauce with taggiasche olives and ricotta.

It is a quick and stunning first-course dish, suitable for a light summer lunch which goes well both with milk and goat milk ricotta cheese, depending on your own personal taste.
I love the combination of creamy ricotta, bitter olives and lemon; while the crunch of the oregano-flavored bread crumbs offers a nice contrast with each bite. To me this is comfort food, and often my choice after a busy day when I have a limited amount of time to prepare dinner.

Homemade bread crumbs are a must for this dish. To prepare them, just put cubes of crusty, fresh bread into the blender and pulse until you reach the desired consistency. The crumbs should be coarse and not finely ground.

Here are ingredients for the 4-serving recipe:

 

320 g rigatoni pasta

250 g ricotta cheese

80 g pitted taggiasche dark olives

60 g homemade bread crumbs

1 organic lemon zest

dry oregano
EVO oil

salt and pepper

1. Put a pot of water to boil and salt it
2. Prepare the sauce of taggiasche olives: put olives in a blender together with ricotta cheese, the lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of EVO oil. Add a pinch of salt and blend until the sauce is smooth.
   If the mixture is dry, you may dilute it with a few tablespoons of cooking water
3. Pour rigatoni pasta into the boiling water and cook it al dente
4. Meanwhile, proceed with preparing the breadcrumb: in a pan heat 3 tablespoons of EVO oil and, when it is hot, add the bread crumbs together with 1 teaspoon of dry oregano. Toast it, stirring constantly until it is golden and crisp, then keep aside
5. Drain pasta and pour it into the pan with the olives and ricotta sauce. Stir gently to mix
6. Sprinkle pasta with a handful of breadcrumbs and freshly ground pepper. Your rigatoni pasta is ready to be served and enjoyed!

Nutrition Facts are listed for this recipe in the table below. Data is provided per serving.

You know you are Greek when olive oil, lemon and oregano goes on everything.