Pasta with Spicy Fresh Tomato Sauce & Ricotta

Colleen's Take: "Welllll, I liked this one, not loved this one. It could be that I took too much time cutting my tomatoes and by then I think I burned the fennel seeds, it was okay. I will keep the recipe around but I might not use it again until next year when i am overcome with tomatoes. I also just ground up the fennel seeds that I had on hand instead of buying powder. I didn't use the fresno chili because despite what Rachael Ray says, "you can't find it in every supermarket in America", I ended up using the crushed red pepper and only half of it since I was serving it to the kiddos, I think that was plenty spicy enough too!"

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound penne rigate or other short-cut pasta
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 fresno chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped, or 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 3 - 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 5 - 6 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel or fennel pollen
• 1 cup fresh sheep's- or cow's-milk ricotta
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream or half-and-half
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the cooking water.
2. While the pasta is working, in a deep skillet or large saucepan, heat 3 tbsp. EVOO, 3 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Stir in the fennel seeds for 30 seconds. Stir in the chile and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and season with salt, pepper and the ground fennel (or fennel pollen). Cook, stirring, for 20 minutes. Stir in the reserved pasta cooking water.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the ricotta, cream, thyme and remaiing 1 tbsp. EVOO. Season with salt.
4. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls with large dollops of the ricotta mixture for stirring in as you eat. Pass the remaining ricotta mixture at the table.

 Recipe sourced from Rachael Ray Magazine June 2012 Issue