Lemon Ricotta Sauce is such a great way to enjoy pasta in the summer. We are always working on new ways to have pasta year-round. For me, this sauce is a great way to have pasta and not feel as guilty. I would have pasta every day if I could. Instead, we have a happy compromise and include pasta in our meal planning about once a week.
Pasta
We have been so lucky to have this new little store near us that is so much better than any grocery store. They offer so many great selections. We still have to go to the regular grocery store for some items, but most of it we can get at the local place. They have fresh veggies and fruit from local farmers. It's so much fun! He is a butcher so we can get any cut of meat we want. And they even have a deli!!!
Another great part of the store is the selection of pasta, sauces and wine!!! They have so many great pasta shapes that I have never seen before. Our goal is to try each one of the pasta. For this recipe, we used "Fettucce Ricce". We felt like it looked like skinny lasagna. It is a long-cut pasta with curly edges just like lasagna. Its a really fun and cute pasta. The best part about this pasta from Mike's is it is from Italy. All the directions are in Italian. It does make it a challenge to know how long to cook. Just happy we have the "Google machine" to look up the directions.😄
If you can't find Fettucce Ricce pasta for this recipe you can substitute it with Fettuccine or even a Penne pasta would also work great. I think the most important part of picking pasta is to get the pasta you enjoy the most.
Lemon Ricotta Sauce
This is a really light sauce. When making this sauce before adding the ricotta cheese to the pasta. Add about a ¼ cup of the hot lemon sauce to the Ricotta and stir together. This keeps the lemon ricotta sauce from breaking. It will make a nice smooth creamy sauce on the pasta.
TIPS:
- Use the best possible pasta you can find-it's worth it.
- Put salt in the pasta water after the water starts to boil. This will ensure the water is salty but doesn't over-salt the pasta.
- If Shrimp has a fishy smell check out here how to eliminate the smell
Lemon Ricotta Sauce with Pasta and Shrimp
Ingredients
Pasta
- 4 Ounces Pasta
- 3 Tablespoons Salt
Sauce and Shrimp
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 6 Cloves Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Thyme
- 2 Lemons
- ½ Pound Shrimp
- 1 Zest of One Lemon
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ⅔ Cup White Wine
- ½ Cup Ricotta
- ½ Cup Fresh Parsley
- ½ Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper
Instructions
Pasta
- Boil Water for Pasta. Add about 3 Tbs of salt when the water starts to boil. Then add pasta. Cook pasta one (1) minute less than the package directions
- When the pasta is done, before draining, reserve ½ Cup of the pasta water. Reserve the water for the sauce. Drain the pasta.
While Pasta is cooking prepare the Shrimp and Sauce.
- Remove shells and devein shrimp.Put the juice of one lemon on Shrimp. Set Aside for at least 5 minutes no more than 15 minutes. NOTE: Keep the thyme on the stems. Tie them together if possible. The Thyme will be removed before the pasta is added
- Zest and juice one lemon
- Heat olive oil in a saute pan for about 30 seconds. Add garlic cloves and fresh Thyme with 1 teaspoon of salt. Sauté garlic until it is a nice golden brown and the thyme is soft. The garlic will also be soft. Takes about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the shrimp with lemon sauce to the garlic. Sauté for 3 to 4 more minutes. Or until the shrimp start to turn pink/opaque.
- Remove the Thyme
- Stir in the lemon zest and the lemon Juice
- Optional - Add Crushed red pepper flakes
- Add the wine and pasta water. Stir to combine the sauce with the shrimp
- Toss the pasta in the sauce. Cook for a couple of minutes to reduce the sauce and finish cooking the pasta. Turn off heat
- When adding the ricotta cheese. Take about ¼ cup of the hot pasta sauce and stir into the ricotta cheese. NOTE: This keeps the ricotta from breaking
- Pour ricotta sauce into the pasta and shrimp
- Gently stir the ricotta sauce into the pasta
- Chop Parsley and serve with pasta
- Enjoy! Everyone can sprinkle Parsley on top of the pasta. Parmesan cheese can also be served with this pasta as an additional topping.
Kimberly Rapoza says
This was great. I will definitely make this again. I was afraid it would be too lemony, but it was perfect! Glad I tried it
Dennis J Audino says
This recipe was pretty bland a lot of work for no flavor I even made homemade pasta