AUTHENTIC  ITALIAN  RECIPES

 FROM

 RISTORANTE  d'ANNAMARIA

Maccheroni con la ricotta:

The only real translation or explanation for this recipe is that in Italy, maccheroni can be any kind of short pasta, not just elbow macaroni. The pronunciation of maccheroni is nearly identical to our macaroni.

Ingredients for 4 persons:

Pasta (your choice)                                        1 pound

Fresh or canned Italian plum tomatoes            36 ounces

Onion (finely chopped)                                  ½ medium

Ricotta                                                          8 ounces

Extra virgin olive oil, salt, basil,

grated parmesan                                            as needed

How To Do It:

Your first chore is to peel the tomatoes if you are using fresh ones. Its not that hard to do.  Take a small or medium sized sauce pan and put enough water in it to completely submerge tomatoes. Now bring the water to a rapid boil. Gently drop the tomatoes, a couple at a time into the boiling water and leave them there for 10 seconds. Left them out with a slotted spoon and plunge them into cold water. Now take them, one at a time with a sharp knife and put a small slit in the skin. Now peel the skin off. It should slip right off. A stubborn tomato may need a second dip, but be careful not to cook them at this point.

Next, in a sauce pan or skillet. sauté the onion in small amount (¼ cup) olive oil over medium high heat until the onion is blond and tender.

Chop the tomatoes coarsely and add them to the oil and onion.

Add a pinch of salt for now. You can add more later if necessary when the sauce is just about done.

Cook your sauce over a medium low flame for about an hour.

Add the basil just a few minutes before the end of the cooking time.

In the meantime:

Cook your macaroni in plenty of rapidly boiling water to your preferred doneness. (I like al dente)

In another bowl mash the ricotta and add half a ladleful of the water from the cooking pasta plus a ladleful of the sauce and mix well to make a smooth mixture then mix in a sprinkling of parmesan.

Drain your macaroni when done and mix with the ricotta.

Cover with more sauce and parmesan and enjoy.