Ruffled Pasta With Herbed Ricotta And Pine Nut Brown Butter Food

TRUFFLE PASTA

Steps:

• Bring salted water to a boil. Meanwhile cook shallots in butter over very low heat or until tender. Add heavy cream and reduce somewhat or until thickened. Cook pasta for 2 minutes or until al dente and add to cream; toss to coat. Whisk in truffle butter or paste into pasta and remove from heat. Season with salt. Serve with truffle shavings or fresh truffle.

PENNE WITH BROWN BUTTER, ARUGULA, AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper until smooth. Set aside.
• For the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.
• In a high-sided skillet, whisk the butter over medium heat until melted. Simmer until foamy. Continue to cook until the butter has a nutty aroma and turns a caramel color, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the pasta, dressing, arugula, tomatoes, Parmesan, pine nuts, and capers. Toss until coated, adding the reserved pasta water, 1 tablespoon at a time to loosen the sauce, if needed. Transfer to a large bowl and serve.

PASTA WITH HERBED RICOTTA, TOMATOES AND SPINACH

Steps:

• Blanch the rinsed spinach leaves in a large pot of well-salted boiling water until limp, about 1 minute. Drain the spinach and cool completely under cold running water. Pat dry and chop.
• Put the ricotta cheese in a large bowl and beat with a fork until smooth. Stir in the spinach, scallions, basil, tomatoes, parsley and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook the penne until tender in well-salted boiling water. Drain, toss with the ricotta mixture, garnish with the pine nuts and serve immediately.