brown rice pasta & fresh ricotta

brown rice pasta & fresh ricotta

i was doing a little neighborhood exploring this afternoon and popped into marlow & daughters over on broadway. they're well known for their grass fed, hormone-free meat and poultry selection but today i opted for some of their fresh ricotta.  i wasn't looking for anything in particular but thought the ricotta looked light, fluffy and delicious.  after i picked my signature ingredient, i grabbed a few bunches of broccoli rabe, brown rice pasta and fresh basil. the ricotta made the dish, it added a really nice velvety, rich texture. recipe as follows:

prep time: 10 mins
cook time: 20 mins
ingredients:

• 8 oz brown rice spiral pasta


• 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin


• 2 bunches broccoli rabe


• 1 jar of your favorite red sauce


• fresh chopped basil


• fresh ricotta


• good olive oil


• salt & pepper to taste


• 1/4 teaspoon roasted red pepper flakes

bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it generously. while you're waiting for water to come to temp, slice the garlic, cut the stems off the broccoli rabe and wash & spin the broccoli rabe. 
in a small saucepan, heat the red sauce. at this stage, i generally add some minced garlic and roasted red pepper flakes.  let the sauce simmer so all flavors can marry together.
add two tablespoons of olive oil to a saute pan and bring up to medium heat.  add the garlic to the pan along with roasted red pepper flakes and saute the garlic until the edges just begin to brown.  remove garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside.  add two more tablespoons of olive oil to a large saute pan and again, bring up to medium temp.  go back to your pot of boiling water, blanch the broccoli rabe and then add it to the pan with the olive oil.  season it generously with salt and pepper after about 2 minutes, add the sauteed garlic to the broccoli rabe.  toss all gently and remove from heat.
use your same large pot from before and boil another pot of water.  salt it generously and add the brown rice pasta. brown rice pasta will take a little longer to cook but i think you'll like the taste as well as regular or whole wheat pasta.  the bonus is that you'll ingest fewer carbs and hence, get to double your serving.  just kidding...
once cooked, drain the pasta and return to the pot.  mix in a little of the sauce and then plate it up with the basil, broccoli rabe and ricotta.