Delicious and Simple Ricotta and Tomato Pasta Sauce

I just love this recipe! Mum used to make this for us when we were kids. It's apparently a traditional Roman dish, great for vegetarians and very easy and quick to whip up, an awesome dish with a real 'rustic' feel to it! The kids will love it! It is to be served on top of steaming, hot pasta...wholemeal pasta works quite well with this recipe too! Enjoy!

• Ready In: 15 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 2  cups fresh ricotta
• 1 (400 g) can crushed tomatoes
• 1  yellow onion, finely diced
• 3  cloves garlic, crushed
• 1  tablespoon tomato paste
• 2  tablespoons  freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1  teaspoon  coarse ground pepper
• 1  tablespoon olive oil
• 8  leaves fresh basil
• 1 (500 g) package pasta (spirals work well with this recipe)

Directions

1. Firstly, put on a large pot of salted water and bring to the boil, add pasta to water and cook until'al dente' approximately 8- 10 minutes.
2. While pasta is on the go, finely dice your onion and crush your garlic.
3. In a saucepan, put in the olive oil, when the oil is warm, add your garlic and onion and gently saute these until they are transparent.
4. Add the ricotta to the pan, and stir through the onions and garlic well.
5. At this stage, add your salt and pepper, parmesan, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste.
6. Mix well and let simmer gently for 10 minutes.
7. Drain pasta.
8. Turn the ricotta sauce off from the heat, add your fresh basil leaves, roughly torn, into the sauce.
9. Dish up some pasta into a bowl, put some of the ricotta sauce on top of the pasta, and finish off with some extra shavings of parmesan if desired.