Farro Pasta with Peas & Ricotta Recipe
Keith Snow's new cookbook, The Harvest Eating Cookbook, arrived in the mail the other day, and this recipe in particular really popped out at me. It sounded so delicious -- helped by the fact that there was a mouth-watering picture of the finished dish.
The original recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of pesto. When we made this at the warehouse, we opted to use our jarred pesto, and then added some grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese - as the jarred product does not have cheese in it. It was wonderfully delicious. When it is pasta season, having a jar or two of pesto around is really useful - although making your own is really great too.
Adapted from Keith Snows, The Harvest Eating Cookbook, (Running Press, 2009).
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh peas (you can also use frozen)
8 ounces farro pasta - Etruria's Umbricello
3 tablespoons Basil Pesto
1 tablespoon Parmigiano Reggiano - finely grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove hardneck garlic - sliced
1 small shallot - sliced
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
Parmigiano Reggiano for sprinkling
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Steam the fresh peas until tender - about 25 minutes. (If using frozen peas - steam about 2 minutes.)
2. In a large pot, bring 5 quarts of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente - about 9 minutes.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot and cook for 1 minute. Add the cooked peas, ricotta, cooked pasta, pesto and 1 tablespoon of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Mix well.
4. Move to serving bowl, grate Parmigiano-Reggiano on top, season with sea salt and pepper, and serve.
Serves 4