Pasta with Fava Beans & Ricotta

This simple recipe turned out great!

My mom told me about this recipe she found in La Cucina Italiana magazine. I never had fava beans before but we love pasta dishes so I gave it a try. The recipe calls for maccheroni all chitarra (a ribbon pasta named after the machine that cuts it) or spaghetti - but I used perciatelli pasta - which are like spaghetti but they are hollow inside - like a tube. This is a simple recipe with few ingredients and it turned out great! Though not totally sold on the fava beans (I think just because they had never had them before), my family did enjoy this new pasta dish. Maybe next time I will use peas instead of fava beans!

What You Need
From the store:
(Prices sourced from ShopRite.com)
1 (16 ounce) package shelled frozen fava beans (not thawed) $1.89
1 pound Maccheroni alla Chitarra (or spaghetti type pasta of your choice) $1.49
1 cup freshly grated ricotta salata cheese (about 6 ounces), plus extra for sprinkling $2.25
Total $5.63

From your pantry:
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

What to Do
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the fava beans and cook until tender; 2 to 3 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a large serving bowl.
Bring the water back to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.
Immediately transfer pasta to the bowl with the fava beans.
Add the cheese, oil and enough cooking liquid to moisten (add more, if needed).
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve at once, with extra cheese.