Lazy Ravioli with Cheese Recipe

It is 95 F today in Boston. Feels like Florida. Even more so since our portable a/c has not arrived yet. So, what's for dinner today?.. Well, something simple with minimum cooking. I happened to have a package of farmers cheese in the fridge, and something lazy came to mind. I have omitted the most time-consuming and boring part of making ravioli, that is making them per se. :) Basically, today's recipe is pasta with farmers cheese and greens. It took me about 30 minutes to prepare, and it turned out really good. Here's how I did it.

What you need:

0.5 lb pasta (some interesting variety)
3/4 lb farmers cheese
Salt
Black pepper (other spices)
Cilantro, finely chopped
Dill, finely chopped
Butter, about 2 tbsp
Lettuce leaves or spinach (optional)
Sour cream to garnish (optional)
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Feeds 4 people.

Method:

Cook pasta al dente.

While pasta is cooking, crumble farmers cheese in a bowl, add some salt and black pepper. Use other spices to your liking.

Drain pasta, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process, drain well again. Melt butter in the same saucepan you cooked pasta in, mix pasta with butter, gently mix in cheese. Let everything warm through thoroughly.

Serve with lots of greens, lettuce/spinach, and sour cream. Simple, light (I would dare say), and yummy!

Notes:

Quantities are approximate, you can add more this and that - it will still be tasty. It can be eaten either with a fork or a spoon.

Today's recipe was inspired by a dish I used to cook long ago in Russia, on those days of food shortage, when food choices were very poor. We called it lazy vareniki. Vareniki are called pirogi in the US. When I came here I was surprised to learn this, because Russian pirogi (pies) is quite a different creation. Everything became so mixed up in this cross-international food :) Back then I used only farmers cheese(tvorog) and pasta. It was fast, cheap, and satisfying.

Tags: easy • farmers cheese • pasta • quick

Summary: a easy recipe