Asparagus and Ricotta Pasta Bake
Hi, today I am sharing with you a short post of an Asparagus and Ricotta Pasta Bake.
I hope you have had a good week, I feel like this week I have not stopped. There has been so much running around and things to organise so I am hoping that this weekend will be a bit on the quite side.
It is very important that you keep some of the pasta water to add back to the pasta before you bake it otherwise it might end up being a bit on the dry side. I just put a bowl under my colander before I drained the pasta and asparagus to save some of the water, you could also just take a mug and take some water out before you drain the pasta too.
After removing the woody ends of the asparagus I then cut the asparagus up into about 1cm pieces however you can do yours small if you with, it is really up to you 🙂
I hope you have a lovely weekend and have something lovely planned. I think we are going to have some bad weather here so thats a bit of a pity as we have had lovely weather during the week.
I hope you enjoy the Asparagus and Ricotta Pasta Bake xx
Asparagus and Ricotta Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 400 g Pasta - rigatoni shell, fusilli or penne
- 500 g Asparagus woody ends removed, and asparagus chopped up
- 350 g Ricotta
- 60 g Parmesan Cheese grated
- 1 Tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh thyme stalks removed
- zest of 1 lemon and juice of half a lemon
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C and heat a large pot of salted water up.
- Cook the pasta as per the instructions but 4 - 5 minutes before it is finished cooking add the chopped asparagus, cook for 2 - 3 minutes and then drain the pasta and asparagus but save some of the pasta water.
- In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, lemon zest, lemon juice, whole grain mustard, thyme and 40g of the parmesan cheese, add some pepper an a little salt.
- Pour half the pasta and asparagus back into the pot and mix in half of the ricotta mixture, add the remaining pasta mixture and mix the rest of the ricotta mixture through it. Add 9 tablespoons of the saved pasta water to make the pasta a bit wetter.
- Place the pasta into an oven proof dish and sprinkle over the remaining parmesan cheese. Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, remove once ready and serve.