Almond

Pasta with Creamy Basil-Almond-Ricotta Sauce

by:
April  9, 2015
4
3 Ratings
Pasta with Creamy Basil-Almond-Ricotta Sauce
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

This pasta sauce is a riff on pesto, using peeled almonds, milk, basil, Parmesan, and ricotta. Adapted from De Cecco pasta. —Posie (Harwood) Brien

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 bunch basil
  • 3 tablespoons Parmesan, freshly grated
  • 6 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1/4 cup peeled, sliced almonds
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons fresh ricotta cheese
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 pound dried pasta (or fresh!)
  • 2 cloves garlic
Directions
  1. In a food processor, combine the basil, Parmesan, milk, garlic, and almonds, salt, and pepper and blend until well-combined.
  2. In a separate bowl, stir together the ricotta and melted butter. Add the basil mixture to the bowl and gently fold the sauce together.
  3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add your pasta and cook until al dente.
  4. Drain the pasta and mix it with the basil sauce while the pasta is still warm. Top with grated Parmesan, if you'd like, and serve warm.
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See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • AKeyte
    AKeyte
  • Elizabeth Niehaus
    Elizabeth Niehaus
  • Denise
    Denise
  • Posie (Harwood) Brien
    Posie (Harwood) Brien

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5 Reviews

AKeyte
AKeyte December 20, 2015
Great tasting pasta! I loved this version of pesto. I used a mix of basil, coriander and parsley (with the tiniest bit of mint, just to use up all the herbs I had lying around).

I don't have a food processor, only a blender. It was impossible to blend the herb and milk mixture because it was just too less. So I added the butter. Still not enough. Chucked in the ricotta in the end. No problems, in fact it gave me a really smooth texture (would've been hard otherwise to mix in the ricotta for me because my ricotta was drained and very thick).

Oh and I used roughly 40 g of herbs for "one bunch".
 
Elizabeth N.
Elizabeth N. September 24, 2015
I made this for my boyfriend. he told me it was one of the top 5 pastas hes had in his life. I used pine nuts and walnuts - toasted, instead of almonds and threw a bit of spinach in to make it stretch into a larger quantity. I also added a squeeze of lemon juice. I didnt have ricotta cheese so I used mascarpone which added a nice little bit of sweetness.
 
Pauline M.
Pauline M. May 17, 2015
how much is a bunch????
 
Denise
Denise April 12, 2015
There's garlic in the photo but no garlic in the recipe? Can't have pesto without garlic. Please advise.
 
Posie (.
Posie (. April 12, 2015
2 cloves -- the recipe is updated!!