Today, I bring you a Catalan-Italian combination that is a winner, since I have returned to Sabadell. Fusilli with honey and mató, a typically Catalan product, but one that you can substitute with ricotta or cottage cheese. Don’t be scared and think that I’ve started making mixtures like a children’s party of Fanta-Nutella-potato chips, because no. It is delicious and is made so quickly that it can be prepared with guests practically already at the table or on any of these hot days, which leave you wanting nothing more than to spend the night in the street looking for drafts or to go for a soak … Or both things
Although they are quite similar, mató, ricotta, and cottage cheese are not exactly the same, but they have a very similar flavor and texture. At first, I wanted to prepare this recipe with ricotta, but I ended up letting myself be convinced by the mató for two reasons: 1. It is not an impossible mission to buy ricotta in Spain, but accustomed to the price at which they sell it in Italy, I was a bit lazy to pay what they were asking for it, although I perfectly understand that everything that is imported, logically, costs more than in its country of origin. 2. Because although I have found it from a well-known brand and it is not bad, it is not one of the best. Therefore, I preferred to make an invention, to see what would happen, because it seemed more sensible to buy a good mató, which was cheaper, than ricotta that they made me pay a bit dearly for and which was nothing to write home about either. Besides, from time to time I find it fun to adapt to the ingredients you have more at hand, from here, using them in the Italian way and doing tests. Also, it’s not for nothing, but these fusilli turned out very good for me. Likewise with the bacon, which has nothing Italian about it, but which I added to the dish following the same logic and the laziness I felt about opening a piece of guanciale that I brought from Rome and that I am reserving to make matriciane to dazzle everyone who comes to see me at my new house, on days that are not as hot as those of this week.
This recipe is nothing more than a kind of … I don’t dare call it an evolution of pasta alla ricotta, because it sounds pretentious or very Digimon, cartoons that used to make me very angry, so let’s call it a Catalan relative that I came up with. I have also added a little honey and walnuts, without overdoing it, because I also felt like paying homage to the “mel i mató” (honey and mató), which with the bacon bits have turned out super delicious. Despite what it might seem, it is not an extremely heavy dish to digest, since there is little bacon, but if you are vegetarians or simply want it a bit lighter, it will turn out just as good without the bacon. Not to mention that, if you cook it only with ricotta, mató, or cottage cheese, pepper, and nutmeg, you will get what is the typical, lifelong Italian pasta alla ricotta recipe, but you will miss the part that makes it most interesting to me: the small dots of sweet-salty-fresh contrast from the honey, the bacon, and the mint, and the texture of the crushed walnuts that makes you notice something more in your mouth while chewing than just the forkful of pasta.
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The card
- 200g of fusilli.
- 200 g of mató or cottage cheese
- 50 g of bacon
- 40 g of shelled walnuts
- 6 mint leaves
- Honey
- Black pepper
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Put the water on to boil for the fusilli.
- Fry the pieces of bacon without oil, slowly, until they are very crispy and let them cool on paper towels.
- Crush the shelled walnuts with a mortar, reserving a few, if desired, for decoration.
- In a bowl, mash the cottage cheese, mixing it with a pinch of nutmeg and black pepper to taste.
- Take half a ladle of pasta cooking water, add it to the cottage cheese, and stir.
- Drain the pasta and incorporate the cottage cheese sauce.
- Plate the pasta, sprinkling on top a tablespoon of crushed walnuts, a few pieces of bacon, the mint cut with your fingers, and a drizzle of honey.
