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A Family Favorite Pesto & Ricotta Pasta Bake

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Pesto Pasta is a next level dish itself. But mixed with some ricotta and mozzarella cheese and baked until both has molten and the pasta has turned crispy on the top, it is even better. Plus, it really is super super easy to make, a family favorit and healthy(ish)! 

What is special about this dish?

It is not pesto pasta, but similar, just taken next level. Maybe you could say that it is kind of a crossover of pesto pasta and lasagne. The ricotta-egg mixture makes kt all really creamy and adds a nice texture to it, while the mozarella adds the cheesy goodness. So yep, like pesto pasta just with more textures and flavours.

Is this dish healthy?

It definitely is healthyish. And it is green – so it‘s got to be healthy right? Pesto actually is pretty dense in nutrients. There are healthy, unsaturated fats from the olive oil and pine nuts, a bunch if protein from the parmesan cheese and the nuts and a fair amount if vitamins and fibre from the basil. Pesto definitely is healthy.

When using pesto, you really need to make sure to use a good one. One with high quality ingredients!! I either use my Super Easy 10-Minute Homemade Pesto, or the one from Pastafani. This also is made from organic ingredients and tastes soso good! You can get it with a 10% discount when using UNEPETITE10 on their website – it definitely is worth a try!

Then we have the ricotta and mozzarella cheese. They both contain some saturated fat, but they also are packed with protein and calcium. Plus, they add a whole bunch of deliciousness 🙂 then, there also is the pasta. Pasta is a great source of carbohydrates and also protein. If you want to go for a version that is even more nutrient-dense, you could just long for whole grain pasta.

How to make this dish?

As easy as pie (although I think this is easier than pie). What we need to do, is boil the pasta according to package instructions and lix it with the pesto. In the meantime we also need to prepare the ricotta mixture, for which we need to combine the ricotta, egg, salt and pepper. The ricotta mix really adds some depth into the dish and makes it really, really creamy! 

Once the pasta is mixed with the pesto, we‘re adding it to an oven-safe dish. Here, we are then topping it with the dollops of the ricotta mixture and about half of the mozzarella. Now, we need to give it all a good mix, so it gets kind of marble-ish and the ricotta and mozzarella are distributed evenly. What now is left to do is top it with the remaining mozzarella and breadcrumbs and drizzle it with some olive oil. Into the oven it goes and now we need to wait for 25-30 minutes until it‘s crispy on the top. 

While dish dish may look rather fancy or complicated, it really is everything else but this. It is soso simple to prepare and packed with so incredibly much flavor. All in all, it simply is an amazing dinner to feed a hungry fam or some hungry friends. 

I hope you‘ll enjoy this as much as we always do and that you‘ll have an amazing time cooking & eating it! 

Love,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière 

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A Family Favorite Pesto & Ricotta Pasta Bake

Regular pesto pasta is great yeah, but baked with molten cheesy goodness and indulgence, just damn. Next level. This pesto-ricotta and mozzarella pasta bake is just another level of tastiness and still soso easy to make! A family favorite and a must try!

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Cook Time 30 Minuten
Total Time 45 Minuten
Servings 4 servings

What you will need

  • 400 g penne pasta
  • 200 g basil pesto
  • 100 g ricotta cheese
  • 200 g buffalo mozzarella
  • 1 egg
  • 4 tbsp breadcrumbs
  • olive oil, salt & pepper

How to

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

  2. Start by preparing the pasta according to package instructions, but cook 1 minute less.

  3. In the meantime mix the ricotta with the egg, salt and pepper until creamy. Cut the mozzarella into bite sized pieces.

  4. Once the pasta is done cooking, preserve 1/2 a cup of the water they were cooked in and drain the rest. Mix them with the pesto, and some of the pasta water until well combined.

  5. Add them to an oven safe dish and top it all with some dollops of the ricotta mixture and half of the mozzarella. Mix it all through gently, so the ricotta and mozzarella are evenly distributed, then top with the remaining mozzarella and breadcrumbs. Drizzle with the olive oil and bake for 25-30 minutes until crispy on the top.

  6. Serve with some basil and enjoy!!

Oven Baked Lemon Honey Feta

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Crispy and creamy cheese, lemony twist, honey tomatoes and tangy capers. Maybe with some baguette to dip everything up? Sounds pretty good – at least to me! 20 minutes, perfect for anyone, vegetarian, and pretty healthy too! This makes a perfect light lunch or a decent and quick weeknight dinner.  

I am a huge fan of feta cheese. I think it is a great addition to so many things such as pasta, eggs, on top of salads or bowl, or whatever. It just adds the finishing touch and takes everything next level. Especially in summer it is such an amazing food because it is a little fresh so it adds a summer twist to every dish. 

What is it like?

In summer when my uncle goes to Greece every year he always brings me a giant block of feta and it is like a dream. Then we´ll have Greek salads pretty much every day. They are just so simple in summer and take literally 10 minutes to make. This dish is pretty similar. Think Greek salad but baked. And without cucumber. It has very similar ingredients, tomatoes, feta, olives, herbs, olive oil. It is just a little different as it does not contain cucumbers (because baked cucumbers? I don’t know) and some lemon zest, which is like the best thing ever here. Plus some honey ad breadcrumbs to make it crispy and tangy. 

When you bake it and soak up the remaining sauce after with a baguette it just tastes sooo good! It is fresh, sweet, just super good. But my fvorite part of this dish is that the feta is turned into a creamy cheese but with a crispy crumble top and you just put a piece of it on some bread and have that creaminess and sweetness and crispyness all together in your mouth. 

But how do you actually make it?

Really easy – you take the feta cheese and place it in a baking dish. Throw some cherry tomatoes, olives and capers in and some grated lemon zest. You sprinkle some breadcrumbs on top and drizzle honey, olive oil and lemon juice. Place in the oven for 10 minutes and voila – there you go, done! This is how simple it is. That is so great! That simple but so flavorful! Honestly so good. 

When and for who?

This dish also is great for people with intolerances because you can use gluten free breadcrumbs if you can´t have gluten and feta cheese is not made out of cow´s milk but out of sheep’s milk, which means even people with intolerances can enjoy that. I would not recommend it for meal prep because then you loose the creaminess and crisp but I do not believe that this is necessary because it only takes 15 minutes!

I hope that you will make and enjoy this dish whenever you want! It is as good in winter as it is in summer so it really is up to you when you make it!

Happy cooking!

Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

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Oven Baked Lemon Honey Feta

15 minute, tangy, sweet and fresh baked feta with a crispy crust and sweet tomatoes. Ideal dish for a light lunch or a quick dinner.

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine greek, Italian
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 15 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 325 kcal

What you will need

That is what you will need:

  • 1 block Feta Cheese (150g)
  • 1 handful cherry tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp olives
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • zest of half lemon
  • juice of half lemon
  • 1-2 tbsp breadcrumbs
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • some thyme
  • some rosemary
  • some sea salt
  • some baguette and salad to serve with

How to

That is how it works:

  1. Preheat the oven to 240C or Grill.

  2. Place the feta on a baking tray or into a baking dish. Add the cherry tomatoes, capers and olives. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs, lemon zest and some sea salt on top.

  3. Drizzle to olive oil, honey and lemon juice and place the herbs on top.

  4. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

  5. Serve with some fresh beguette and some salad.

    Enjoy!