Macaroni with ricotta-and-sausage sauce is a quick and easy-to-do recipe.
This is a new pasta recipe we sometimes make at home especially when we have to plan a seated dinner with our friends. Read our blog page if you want to know it.
Rigatoni with ricotta and sausage is like a traditional recipe made in Calabria but in this case we eat sausage with pasta.
You will need few ingredients: macaroni (a durum semolina short pasta of Italy), ricotta cheese, fresh sausage, good-quality extra virgin olive oil and chives (fresh or dried).
Here's the recipe!

Prepare the sausage. Peel the sausage, crumble its meat and put in a pan with 3-4 tablespoons of water. Bring to the boil and cook, half-covered, for about 15 minutes or until crumbled sausage loses all its fat. Remove the crumbled sausage from the pan with a skimming ladle and transfer it in a saucepan with the olive oil and dried chives. Season to taste with salt and cook for about 5 minutes to flavor the sauce.

Cook the pasta. Meanwhile cook rigatoni in a large kettle of boiling salted water according to package directions. Read more about we use to cook pasta in Italy.
Melt ricotta cheese in a large bowl, after sieving it, using some tablespoons of the water in which you are cooking pasta.

The last step. Drain rigatoni and pour them into the bowl, combine with the sauce, stir and serve immediately.

Note

• - You can use pork sausage if you don't like horse meat or don't find it.
• - If you have some pasta left you can warm it up.
• - You can prepare sausage ahead. Crumble and boil it. Then chill it until you prepare this recipe.
• - Put a little bowl with grated Parmesan cheese on the table. Every guest will be able to sprinkle it on his own dish according to his taste.
  It's a mistake to serve the pasta dish sprinkled with Parmesan or Pecorino cheese.

Healthy eating

• - Daily menu. This pasta recipe with ricotta and sausage is one-plate meal. It's rich in calories and so you should complete the meal with raw vegetables if you are still hungry and fresh fruit.
  We remember pasta should be eaten preferably at lunch and the calories eaten at lunch should be 500 - 700 (30 - 35% of energy needs for an adult if his daily needs are about 2000 calories and he correctly divides his calories into 5 micro-meals).
  Here are the doses per head: 70 g (2 1/2oz) macaroni, 60 g (2 1/4oz) ricotta cheese, 30 to 40 g (1 1/4oz to 1 1/2oz) fresh sausage, chives and one tablespoon olive oil.
• - Special occasion menu. Don't choose this recipe for a complete dinner menu. The menu would be too heavy.
• - This recipe is OK for people with tomato intollerance or allergy.
• - In the nutrition facts there are no Parmesan cheese.
• - If you want to drink a glass of wine remember you have to add 80-85 kCal per 100 ml.
• - If you want to know more about Italian pasta and its nutrition value read this page.
• - We remember you our original home recipes can be made without salt; there is a combination of flavours that substitutes salt. Other no salt recipes ...

What's the right wine for " Macaroni with fresh sausage and ricotta cheese " ?

Our suggestion is: Contea di Sclafani (a structured red wine from Sicily) or another red wine such as Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (wine of Abruzzi)