Pasta is always good, especially if we choose a special sauce like ricotta cream, lemon zest, which will make it even fresher and more fragrant, and confit cherry tomatoes cooked in an air fryer. This pasta is extra creamy, perfect both hot and cold. As we will see, no pan is needed: we will cook the pasta and then, separately, season it directly in a bowl. I will teach you how to achieve a perfect cream that everyone will love, so forget about dry or sticky pasta dishes. This pasta is a real delight! We will cook the cherry tomatoes in the air fryer, for much faster cooking than the oven and which will add a unique touch to this dish.
This is a quick first course and really easy to make that will win everyone over at the table.
Also check out these delicious first course recipes:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 9 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 7 oz pasta of choice
- 7 oz ricotta
- 1 organic lemon
- to taste fresh basil
- 5.3 oz cherry tomatoes
- to taste salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste sugar
- to taste oregano
Tools
- Air Fryer
Steps
First, let’s prepare the confit cherry tomatoes. Wash the cherry tomatoes, cut them in half and place them in the air fryer basket with the cut side up. Add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of sugar, a pinch of salt, and finally dry oregano.
Cook the tomatoes in the air fryer at 320°F for the first 10 minutes, then 355°F for 5 minutes and finally at 390°F for 5 minutes; in total, it will take 20 minutes.
*You can also make them in the oven, in which case you need to cook the confit tomatoes at 284°F for 2 hours. I recommend cooking in the air fryer because it allows us to save a lot of time and electricity.
For the ricotta cream, place the ricotta in a bowl and grate the organic lemon zest. Add a pinch of salt and a splash of water, mix to get a cream.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of salted water. Drain it, reserving some of the cooking water.
Pour the pasta directly into the ricotta cream and mix; if necessary, add a few drops of the reserved cooking water.
Serve and top with the confit cherry tomatoes, a few leaves of fresh basil, and more grated lemon zest.
Enjoy the pasta hot or cold, it’s great either way. Bon appétit.
Tips for you
✔ You can cook the pasta even a bit before lunch or dinner, as it’s perfect even cold.
✔ The lemon is essential to get this special and fragrant taste.
✔ You can cook the confit cherry tomatoes in the oven but you’ll need to increase the cooking time. So instead of 20 minutes, it will take 2 hours at 284°F. In this case, I recommend parchment paper.
✔ You can use whichever ricotta you prefer, such as goat or sheep.
✔ It is necessary to cook the confit cherry tomatoes directly in the basket of the air fryer without baking trays or parchment paper: this way they will cook thanks to the air that passes 360 degrees from bottom to top, which allows for ideal air frying. Baking trays or parchment paper would be an impediment as they would block the air circulating inside the air fryer.
✔ I recommend using the BBQ mesh to insert directly into the non-stick basket of your air fryer: the mesh protects the non-stick coating of the basket (which will remain like new) and allows the food to cook evenly, letting the air pass 360 degrees.
✔ You can use perforated parchment paper (important: otherwise, air doesn’t pass below and above). You can find it by clicking here.
✔ For this recipe, I used the COSORI 5.5 air fryer, which you can find on Amazon here: link
Don’t miss the latest recipe for 👉 thin fried potatoes in air fryer: I teach you all the tricks to get perfect fries like those fried with only 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil!
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