Pasta ricotta will always make a terrific weekday dinner or even a fast, late night one. It’s creamy, flavorful and satisfying. It is also extremely fast! You can finish this recipe in just about 15 minutes. There’s no cooking involved, you’re simply boiling water for the pasta then tossing it into a few ingredients. Sometimes I like to make my pasta ricotta a little “fancier” and add a couple items in. A fresh green like basil, parsley or spinach works lovely to add. As well as some spice like a freshly diced red chili pepper or even dried crushed chili flakes. Use whatever you like or have on hand, or don’t use any! Fun fact (for any non Italians), the word “peperoncini” means chili peppers in Italian. So that’s what the word in the title refers to, rather than the pickled banana peppers you may see in jars labeled peperoncini. 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. pasta

• 1 ladle pasta water

• 1 lb. ricotta cheese (about 2 cups or so)

• Big handful fresh parsley, chopped (or fresh basil or spinach)

• 2 red chili peppers, diced (or tbs dried chili flakes)

• 1 lemon, juiced

• Salt 

• Pepper

• About 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

• Grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Start boiling water for the pasta. Once boiled, add pasta and a teaspoon or so of salt to the water, then cook until al dente. Make sure you save about 1 cup of the starchy pasta water before straining it.

2. In the meantime, place ricotta in a small mixing bowl. Add the pepper and fresh parsley (or basil). Add a ½ tsp of salt and ½ tsp black pepper, about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, juice of one lemon and one ladle (or about ½ cup) of pasta water. Whisk until combined and smooth.

3. Draining pasta, return to pot (heat off), pour the ricotta mixture over the pasta then toss to combine. As you’re tossing the sauce should slightly thicken. If it’s dry you can add some more splashes of pasta water. Grate some parmesan cheese over top, continue to toss then serve hot. Taste, you can add more salt to taste and ground some fresh black pepper over top, you can add another drizzle of olive oil as well with some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

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