Tis the season to gather your friends for an aesthetically pleasing dinner party, ya heard?
Scrap the been there done that charcuterie board and tacky vegetable plate and impress your guests with a delicious helping of pasta. You probably don’t want to pay for Jon and Vinny’s right now and your guests are lying if they say they want to eat finger food after a long day of work. With a combination of fresh basil, smooth ricotta, sweet corn, and acidic, blistered tomatoes, I can assure you that this recipe will appease any LA pasta snob.
Ingredients (for 8-10 servings)
- 2lbs of Orecchiette pasta (or anything small to scoop up sauce such as penne or fusilli)
- 1 ½ cups of Ricotta Cheese
- ½ cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 can of corn
- Handful of fresh basil, sliced
- 2 cups of cherry tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Pinch of crushed red chili flakes
Preparation
Step 1: Place your cherry tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil in a baking dish and bake at 450 for 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes are bursting and soft.
Step 2: Boil a large pot of water and cook your pasta until al dente. Save about ½ cup of pasta water before straining.
Step 3: In a large saucepan, combine your pasta, ricotta, parmesan cheese, and corn.
Step 4: Stir together until smooth, adding pasta water if the sauce is too dry.
Step 5: Spoon in your blistered cherry tomatoes (be careful not to stir too much so that you do not break up the tomatoes).
Step 6: Throw in your sliced basil and season with black pepper and crushed red chili flakes to your liking.
Step 7: Plate carefully so your guests can take cute pictures of the dish for their social media platform of choice.
Step 8: Enjoy!