“Dad's fave crunchy n’ creamy pasta recipe”

I found the recipe I prepared on the following website: http://www.pasta-recipes-made-easy.com/creamy-pasta-recipe.html. The recipe is called “Dad's fave crunchy n’ creamy pasta recipe”, which is also known as 'penne alle mandorle' (penne with almonds). It caught my eye because the woman who posted this recipe said that her dad who is a meat-lover absolutely loved this recipe; so I figured that my family who also love meat might love it too. It also looked very delicious and fairly easy to make which is another reason I chose it. This recipe originally came from Sicily. The recipe was really easy to prepare, and took me about 45 minutes to make. It helped a lot that the directions were so clear on the website, and that there were pictures posted up so I could see what the food should look like at each step. I shared this recipe with my parents and my sister who all loved it. I thought it was great and I will definitely be making it again. This is a very healthy dish; the almonds and pasta are sources of protein, there are some vegetables, and healthy fats like the olive oil. This recipe benefits the environment in the sense that no animals are killed to make this dish; therefore less fossil fuel is used. It says on the website that if you buy fresh ricotta cottage cheese from a farmer’s market or an Italian delicatessen the food will taste better.

Ingredients:
- 100g/3.5oz crushed almonds
- 5dl/17 fl oz half-fat cream
- 50g/1.75oz breadcrumbs (from tub)
- 500g/17.5oz penne pasta
- 1 medium white onion
- 20 fresh basil leaves
- 250g/9oz ricotta cheese
- Extra virgin olive oil

STEP 1 - First, just a few minutes of quick preparation:
- Peel and chop onion as finely as possible.
- Grate approx. 3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese.
- Rinse and tear the basil leaves.
- Use a pestle & mortar (or rolling pin and small plastic bag) to crush almonds into smaller pieces (not too much though, they shouldn’t be fine like flour but should retain some ‘crunch’!).

STEP 2 - Pop breadcrumbs and crushed almonds into two separate oven dishes or trays.
- Toast under a maximum heat grill for 10-15 mins, shaking regularly, until nicely browned.

Important! After the first few mins of grilling, don’t take your eye off them for a second, as they turn brown real quick!

STEP 3 - Coat a frying pan with a thin layer of oil, heat through on a medium hob, then drop in the onions and basil.
- Fry until onion softens (approx 10 mins).
- With the onion softened, add the cream, 2 tablespoons of salt and 3 of grated parmesan.
- Heat through, stirring only occasionally, until cream becomes thicker and some of liquidity disappears (roughly 10-12 mins). Then take pan off heat.

STEP 4 - Boil a large pan of well-salted water and when boiling add penne pasta.
- Cook as per packet’s recommended timings.
- Just quickly, while the pasta cooks, take a large mixing bowl and stir together the almonds, ricotta and half the toasted breadcrumbs (keep remaining crumbs in a small bowl for serving at the table).
- When ready drain pasta.

Speed tip: Once you’re confident multitasking, next time you can speed things up by setting the pasta cooking and mixing the ricotta mixture while you cream sauce is bubbling away.

STEP 5 - With pasta drained, pop cream sauce back on a medium heat hob and mix in both the ricotta mixture and drained pasta.

Done!