Penne w/ Ricotta and Basil Sauce

This is a tasty low-fat pasta with ricotta cheese. I had never used ricotta cheese in a pasta other than in lasagna and I was really curious how the pasta would taste with it. It tasted really good. I liked it a lot. But I sprinkled just a little bit, about a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese on top of the pasta and it added a great flavor to it. (I added it after I took these photos.. so you can't see it in these photos. Sorry!) This pasta recipe calls for a little bit of bacon crumbles, but no other meat, which is why I was attracted to this recipe. In our family, we eat a lot of chicken. Sometimes, I just don't feel like eating chicken or any meat at all. A little bit of bacon crumbles were just perfect for me that night.

Penne with Ricotta and Basil Sauce

Adapted and changed from Tasty Low-fat Recipes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
2 tablespons bacon crumbles (I used Kirkland brand bacon crumbles but you sure can cook bacon strips and crumble it)
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely chopped *optional
8 oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil
11 oz penne, cooked al dante *save about 1 cup of the pasta water
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pan, add the bacon, garlic and onion and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from the heat, stir in the ricotta and chopped basil and beat until smooth. Add 1 cup of the pasta water to the ricotta mixture to thin the sauce. Add more water if you prefer an even thinner sauce. Season well with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta and stir the sauce through with the tomato halves. Can be garnished with small basil leaves.