By Martha Rose Shulman
- Total Time
- About 20 minutes
- Rating
- 4(650)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Brussels sprouts love a whisper of lemon, which is what the zest provides in this combo. The ricotta becomes creamy when you add a small amount of cooking water from the pasta to it, but you have to serve this right away or the ricotta will stiffen up again. I used gluten free Le Veneziane fettuccine made with cornmeal, and thought the color and texture were very good. It only took 5 to 6 minutes to cook. It works equally well with standard pasta.
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Ingredients
Yield:Serves 4
- ¾pound Brussels sprouts (about 16)
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- ½cup ricotta
- 1garlic clove, mashed with a pinch of salt in a mortar and pestle or put through a press
- 2teaspoons finely grated or chopped lemon zest (I use a microplane for this)
- 2tablespoons minced chives or parsley, or a combination
- 1ounce Parmesan, grated (¼ cup)
- 12ounces fettuccine
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
506 calories; 15 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 73 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 21 grams protein; 514 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Begin heating water for pasta.
Step
2
Trim bottoms of Brussels sprouts and quarter lengthwise or slice. Heat oil over high heat in a large, heavy skillet and add Brussels sprouts. Sear for about a minute without stirring, then turn the heat to medium-high, add salt and pepper to taste and stir or toss in the pan until tender and the edges are seared light brown, about 5 minutes. Some of the leaves will detach and get black, but don’t worry, you can discard them. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl or plate.
Step
3
When water comes to a boil, salt generously and add pasta. While pasta is cooking, mix together ricotta, garlic, lemon zest and chives (or parsley and chives) in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Step
4
When pasta is cooked al dente (see timing instructions on package but check a minute before indicated time), remove ¼ cup of the pasta water. Mix 2 to 4 tablespoons with ricotta. It should have the consistency of cream. Add a little more water if it doesn’t. Drain the pasta and toss with Brussels sprouts, ricotta mixture and Parmesan. If pasta seems dry, toss with a little more of the cooking water or another tablespoon of olive oil. Serve at once.
Tip
- Advance preparation: There is not much advance work to do: it is pretty much a last minute dish.
Ratings
4
out of 5
650
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Cooking Notes
Kathleen
A quick weeknight recipe with lots of flavor. The recipe is done when the pasta is ready. I used broccoli cut into florets. The ricotta is a wonderful healthy alternative to heavy cream.
Use lots of pepper and more Parmesan for more flavor. I can imagine pancetta if you want to go carnivorous. A winner without.
Natasha
Make sure you moisten the ricotta mixture with pasta water to make it creamy. I also sautéed the Brussels sprouts for much longer than recommended and added water periodically to help soften them. And for extra flavor, we added cooked thick bacon.
Jennifer
Perfect coronavirus food. Brussels sprouts keep a long time, as do lemons. I made a few changes - and served with toasted panko.Instead of letting those leaves burn, I "petalled" the sprouts, i.e. removed the outer leaves. Then I cooked the quarters of the centers as directed, with a tiny splash of water at the end. Then added the brussels petals at the end. A quick saute keeps them bright green and crunchy and adds an extra element to the dish.
Melanie
This was delicious. I slices the brussels sprouts to maximize the surface contact with the pan, doubked the garlic, used a combo of chives and parsley and served with egg tagliatelle. Needed more than 4T of water to loosen the sauce, and some salt. A very satisfying lunch!
Jessie
Used gemelli pasta bc that's what we had, and dried parsley and a pinch of dill to move it out of the pantry along with some small white beans cooked earlier in the week. Sautéed garlic (3 cloves) with the sprouts. Generously used S&P with the sprouts. Was a great dish and way to use the ricotta and Brussel sprouts in our fridge.
David Mintz
Delicious, except that I found the raw garlic a bit much. Next time I will try cooking it into the sprouts rather than adding it uncooked into the ricotta mix.
deborah
I decided to roast the brussels sprouts while preparing everything else. We love our veggies and would recommend doubling or even tripling the amount of brussels sprouts. They were a bit dry, but the flavor was delicious. I think to counteract the dryness, next time I will toss fresh tomatoes into the mix. I also added a handful of roasted pine nuts and used casarecce, a short twisty pasta instead of spaghetti. Overall, easy and excellent.
Jason
Substituted decent feta for the ricotta and it worked fine. Add a bit more pasta water and reduce the salt to compensate for the feta's salinity. Still creamy.
Kristine
Brussels sprouts were yummy but the sauce just bland.
Randy
This was delicious. I used bucatini because I had some that needed eating. Next time I'll saute some mushrooms and add those. Also pancetta would be yummy in this. Oh, and the store had purple Brussels sprouts which added nice color.
Gerry
Not sure what I missed - faithful to the recipe and upped the lemon. Bland and boring.
sarah
Vegan substitutes: I used kite hill vegan ricotta and homemade vegan parm. I added extra garlic. It was creamy, easy to make, and delicious.
Niina
A really nice, light and fresh pasta. I did as instructed and I don't think it needs more lemon or garlic, I guess it depends on how potent your ingredients are. Easy to adjust these flavors as you go. I did fry the Brussels sprouts a bit more with a little water and a shallot. A success!
Trish
Definitely add 2-3T lemon juice to ricotta. Sauté some bacon bits up before Brussels sprouts. I tripled (3) garlic cloves and could have used more.
alterations
I would do a pound of pasta and double the ricotta mixture. Otherwise delicious!
Brittany B
Made as directed, but was missing chives. Could have used a bit more flavor but overall very easy and tasty dish.
DGPayne02
Make sure you double the sauce - it comes out dry. Go heavier on the water in the sauce (heavier side, that’d probably help. Note: Stopped it to write this).
Sheila Pulver
Easy and really flavorful--the slightly charred brussels sprouts added a smoky note (they took longer to cook than called for) and the lemon-garlic-scallions (no chives on hand) in the creamy sauce made it bright and fresh. As usual, I cut back on the amount of spaghetti.
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