A traditional simple pasta dish in Malta is tubular pasta (rigatoni, penne or sedani) in a plain tomato sauce with a mixture of ricotta, parsley and egg. A less common version uses fresh ġbejniet, sheep cheeslets. I omitted the egg so it’s less heavy and substituted basil for the parsley.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

200g Pasta

1tbsp Olive Oil

3 Cloves Garlic finely chopped

1 Chilli Pepper sliced

1 Can Tomato Polpa

4 Fresh Ġbejniet (medium size). You can substitute 100-150g ricotta

Basil

Method:

Heat a pan and add the oil and after a minute the garlic and chilli.

Add tomato polpa, rinse the can with a bit of water and add to the pan and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 30 minutes. Add a few basil leaves.

Meanwhile put plenty of salted water in a medium pan and bring to a boil for the pasta. Cook as instructed on package.

When sauce is ready blend with a stick blender. This step is optional.

Put the ġbejniet in a bowl with a handful of chopped basil leaves and season with salt and pepper. Mash with a fork.

Mix pasta with the tomato sauce. Serve in plates and top with ġbejna mixture.

Enjoy!