Ricotta is often overlooked as a cheese for casseroles and pasta sauces, but it can make for creamy and satisfying dishes. Baked spaghetti casserole, stuffed pasta shells, and ricotta and bacon egg spaghetti are just a few options. Mixing ricotta with tomato sauce, vegetables, and herbs can also create delicious meals.
Despite the fact that ricotta actually contains the word cheese, few people put it in the same category as Swiss, mozzarella, cheddar, and other delicious melting cheeses. Ask someone what to do with it, and the answer will be either eat it by itself or make it part of a fruit or vegetable salad. Even cooks don’t often consider ricotta as a casserole or pasta sauce ingredient, but the truth is, ricotta pasta is creamy, rich, and satisfying. Among the ricotta pasta choices are Baked Spaghetti Casserole with Spinach and Ricotta and Egg Spaghetti with Ricotta and Bacon.
There are actually a number of equally delicious approaches to cottage cheese baked pasta casseroles. A variation of lasagna uses cottage cheese instead of cottage cheese. Because ricotta is creamier, the results ooze with gooey, creamy goodness. Another casserole mixes the ricotta with tomato sauce, sauteed onions, garlic, and if the cook wishes, meat and mushrooms. Rigatoni, fusilli, or large elbow macaroni work well with this baked pasta with ricotta.
Stuffing large pasta shells with a combination of ricotta and vegetables such as green, yellow or red peppers, peas and cauliflower in addition to onions, garlic and mushrooms makes for a fabulous dish that young people find so alluring that they’ll ask for seconds. Topped with red tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella, the shells burst out of the casserole full of mixed flavours. The smart cook knows that fresh Italian herbs elevate stuffed shells to magnificence.
As good and creamy as ricotta when eaten cold, combining it with other ingredients meant for the stovetop or oven makes it even creamier. A very simple, low-fat, and nutritious way to create a ricotta sauce for pasta calls for just olive oil, garlic, and fresh or frozen spinach in addition to the ricotta. Some cooks like to add diced, sauteed onion, and maybe even some sauteed mushrooms. A generous helping of grated hard cheese like Romano or Parmesan makes this easy pasta the perfect weeknight meal.
Bacon and cottage cheese become best friends when asked to season egg noodles. Sour cream is the third essential ingredient in this sauce. The basil adds a lovely, almost minty dimension. While this ricotta dish doesn’t call for onion and garlic, many cooks can’t resist adding them, and stir-fried portabella or shitake mushrooms are also ways to season this pasta.
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