Christmas Snowflake Pasta
During a recent visit to Williams-Sonoma, I spotted bags filled with this snowflake (fiochi di neve) pasta and knew it would be perfect for this holiday season.
I have a weakness for pasta shapes, and there are always at least five or six different kinds in my cabinet.
There are umpteen ways you could dress this pasta, but I thought it deserved a festive red and green treatment with Christmas just around the corner. Using just what I had in the fridge and freezer (part of a red pepper, half a bag of peas, some ricotta and parmesan cheese), dinner was on the table in the time it took to boil the pasta.
Of course, you can make this recipe with any pasta shape, but the snowflakes are just so apropos for this time of year. If you do use this snowflake pasta, with this recipe or any other (click here to buy it) take a photo and email it to me. I’d love to see your creation.
Buon Natale!
There are umpteen ways you could dress this pasta, but I thought it deserved a festive red and green treatment with Christmas just around the corner. Using just what I had in the fridge and freezer (part of a red pepper, half a bag of peas, some ricotta and parmesan cheese), dinner was on the table in the time it took to boil the pasta.
Of course, you can make this recipe with any pasta shape, but the snowflakes are just so apropos for this time of year. If you do use this snowflake pasta, with this recipe or any other (click here to buy it) take a photo and email it to me. I’d love to see your creation.
Buon Natale!
Christmas Snowflake Pasta
printable recipe here
makes two very generous portions
8 ounces (half a bag) snowflake pasta (available from Williams Sonoma)
1/2 to 3/4 of a red pepper (about 1/2 cup), diced
about 3/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
salt, pepper to taste
red pepper flakes (optional)
pasta water
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
minced parsley
Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water until almost done. It will cook a little longer in the sauce. While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce. Sauté the onion and pepper at low to medium heat in the olive oil until softened. Add the frozen peas and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes, if desired.
Using a slotted spoon or “spider” tool, drain the pasta right into the pan with the peas and red peppers. It’s ok if some of the pasta water gets into the pan too. In fact, you’ll need to reserve about a cup of the pasta water for this recipe. You may not use all the water – maybe only half of it – but it’s good to have it on hand.
After draining the pasta into the red peppers and peas mixture, add spoonfuls of the ricotta cheese and some of the reserved pasta water. Stir and blend everything together. You want it to be moist, not dry, and you may need to add more pasta water as the pasta continues to absorb it. Keep stirring in the rest of the ricotta and pasta water (at low heat) until you have the desired consistency – not soupy, but not dry either). Turn off the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese, leaving some to serve at the table. Sprinkle with a little minced parsley and serve.
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So cute! A tasty pasta dish.
Cheers,
Rosa
This is a new one for me. Cute!
Perhaps I should start hanging out at William Sonoma more. The pasta looks so cute but when I first saw it I thought it was a cookie you had baked 🙂 Well, you do make a lot of cookies and I wanted to know how you made that form. The laugh is on me. Wait!! How about frying them after you boil them and either put cinnamon sugar on them or powdered sugar? Then I'd get Ciao Chow Linda's Snowflake cookie 🙂
Hoe festive, there is a WS just around the corner from my office and I shall take a look.
I think your sauce was a perfect compliment to that pasta, I was in WS but somehow I must have overlooked it but it's still snowflake season so I have time!
This is such a pretty pasta shape, Linda, and your sauce looks perfect and very festive.
Merry Christmas to you and your family! xoxoxo
non ho mai visto questo formato di pasta, è bellissimo ! Tantissimi auguri di Buon Natale !
This is so pretty – I love that it's a way of celebrating the season and it doesn't have to be for the "big day." I also have a weakness for seasonally-shaped pasta! And hen in doubt – add ricotta. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
What a fun shape for pasta and Christmas/winter time! I bet the ricotta added a lot of yummy creaminess in the recipe! Hope you had a beautiful Christmas Linda! Happy 2017!