Paccheri with wild garlic and ricotta

Ingredients

• 500g Paccheri

• 75g Fresh Wild Garlic (can be with flowers)

• 50g Pine Nuts

• 250g Fresh Ricotta Cheese

• 1/2 tsp Coarse Sea Salt

• 1 tbs Olive Oil

Method

Boil paccheri pasta according to instructions on a packaging.

Wash wild garlic. If there are flowers you can add them to the sauce or keep some on a side as a garnish.

Place wild garlic, pine nuts, olive oil and salt in an electric blender. Blend until nice and smooth pesto sauce is formed. However do not overmix. The sauce should be runny and slightly grainy. Once ready, mix pesto sauce with fresh ricotta and then with pasta.

Nutrition Facts

Wild garlic is very rich in antioxidants, vitamins C and K1 and carotenoids (provitamins for vitamin A). Due to such mixture of nutrients it is especially good for the heart health and it helps to lower LDL cholesterol levels.

Allicin, one of the antioxidants present in wild garlic is known for its antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Ricotta contains all essential amino acids and vitamins from a group B.

Ricotta is much lower in fat content than most cheeses (10% of which 6% are SFA) and it contains much less salt. It is a great choice and substitute for hard cheeses for people with high blood pressure and for those trying to loose some weight.

Due to high level of soluble and insoluble fibre as well as proteins, this meal should keep you full for a long period of time. Using wholegrain pasta will further increase fibre content.