I’ve been making this pasta for years, but only last night did it occur to me to mix the ricotta into the sauce instead of just dolloping it on top at the end. It’s a dish transformed. It’s hot in Berlin just now, but it was worth turning my kitchen into a steam room for a while, just to be able to eat a big plate of this on the balcony. The sun tucked away out of sight, the air warm, it was a perfect transition into our evening wind down. If you’ve got a lot of tomatoes to use up, add some extra, likewise the basil. I could imagine that artichoke hearts would work well if you aren’t a fan of fennel. With cooking, the pleasure is always yours, so adapt to your heart’s content!
Fennel, tomato & ricotta spaghetti
2-3 portions
1 large bulb of fennel, trimmed, cored, & sliced
2 cloves of garlic, grated on a microplane
3 tbsp olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, seeded & chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
a handful of basil leaves, chopped or torn
salt and pepper
2 heaped tbsp ricotta + more to serve
250 g spaghetti
Warm the oil on a medium heat, add the fennel and a generous pinch of salt. Sauté until caramelised, adding the garlic once the fennel has softened a bit. The garlic will caramelise faster so keep an eye on it.
Boil a large pot of heavily salted water. As a rule, use 10 g of salt per litre of water. When it’s boiling vigorously, add the pasta, reduce heat and cook until al dente (or however you enjoy it).
In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, basil, balsamic, 1/4 tsp salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss together and set aside.
When the fennel and garlic are lightly caramelised, turn the heat down low. Add the tomato mix plus two heaped tablespoons of ricotta and stir until the sauce is smooth and the tomatoes warmed through. You don’t want the tomatoes to cook, so turn the heat off once they’re just warmed.
In the last minute of cooking the pasta, scoop a 1/4 cup of the water out of the pot. Mix 2 tbsp into the fennel and tomato mix and stir. The sauce should be homogenous and silky, you can add more of the liquid if you like. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
Drain the pasta well and add back into the pot. Stir in the fennel and tomato sauce. Serve immediately with an extra dollop of ricotta and a few cracks of black pepper on top. We always add grated Parmesan too.