Summer Recipe

Spaghetti with Green Beans, Tomatoes and Seasoned Ricotta Cheese

Credit: Flickr

Pasta cooked with green beans is a typical Puglian summer dish that is fast and easy to prepare and won’t weigh you down when the barometer starts to rise. With just a few simple ingredients you’ll be in and out of the kitchen in no time and ready to head back to the beach.

Credit: Flickr

This is a typically Mediterranean recipe, combining pasta and vegetables. When cooked together in the same water, the vegetables help limit the absorption of the carbohydrates in the pasta. And the pasta becomes enriched by the vegetables’ vitamins and minerals which would otherwise be lost in the cooking water. It’s a win-win situation!

Credit: Flickr

Ingredients:
1. 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) fresh green beans
2. 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) cherry tomatoes
3. 400 grams (14 ounces) spaghetti
4. 2 garlic cloves
5. 2 small hot peppers
6. seasoned ricotta (to taste)
7. 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
8. pinch of sugar
9. pinch of salt

Credits:Flickr

Directions:

1. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.
2. While waiting for it to come to a boil, wash and clean the green beans, removing the tips.
3. Wash the tomatoes, cut them in half or quarters.
4. Peel the garlic.
5. Heat a couple of tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a hot frying pan.
6. Add the garlic and hot peppers and sauté until golden.
7. Add chopped tomatoes and a pinch of sugar and cook until tomatoes are soft.
8. Add a pinch of salt, to taste.
9. In the meantime, your water will have come to a boil. Now add the green beans and the spaghetti and cook for the time indicated on the spaghetti package.
10. Once cooked, drain the spaghetti and green beans well and then add to the pan of tomatoes and cook together for about one minute.
11. Cover with the desired quantity of grated seasoned ricotta (add as much as you like!), mix well and serve.

Credit: Flickr

One piece of advice: do not use too much salt in the pasta water or the tomatoes as seasoned ricotta is quite salty.

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