From Puglia. This is another very simple recipe that I cook a lot when Green Beans are in season. The pictures have been sitting on my computer for a while, so they are no longer in season, but should be fairly easy to get. The recipe uses ricotta marzottica or dura, which is hard to get outside Italy. The best substitute is grana or parmesan. Don’t use regular ricotta, it’s a different thing completely. The beans are cooked for quite a long time and you might consider them to be overcooked, but it works well with the pasta. If you prefer, you could add the beans along with the spaghetti.Serves 4.

• 500g green beans
• 360g spaghetti
• 1 quantity tomato sauce or pasatta
•  Ricotta marzotica or grana

1. Top and tail the beans
2. Boil the beans in plenty of boiling water for 10 minutes.
3. Add the spaghetti to the water and continue cooking until the pasta is al dente.
4. Drain the beans and pasta and mix with the warmed tomato sauce.
5. Serve topped with ricotta marzotica or grana.

Filed under: Grana, Green Beans, Parmigiano, Pasta, Primo - first course, Puglia, Ricotta dura, Spaghetti, Vegetarian Tagged: first course, Italian recipe, Pasta, puglia, Spaghetti, vegetarian