Pasta with ricotta-tomato-herb sauce

When I come home after work I'm most of the times quite peckish (a snack in the afternoon doesn't really help most of the time) and don't have much time to make a fuss about dinner. But I still try to keep the amounth of ready made dinners to an absolute minimum and try to cook a fresh meal every evening. Well, not always cooking, I also often have a salad or now in summer just melon and parma ham.
I normally cook two servings and take one to work the next day.

I love dinners that are prepared in less than 30 minutes and preferably even give me some time to tidy up a bit in the meantime.

So here is another quick and easy dinner, I had to get rid of some ricotta and ended up with this pasta.

For two servings
150 g pasta
300 g tomatos (you can also use plum-tomatos if you prefer)
1 small onion or spring onion
ca. 2 tablespoons of herbs, either fresh or dried (when dried, 1 tablespoon might also be enough)
1 teaspoon granulated vegetable broth 
1 dl tomato juice
100 g ricotta
Pepper to season

Cook the pasta in boiling water till done.
In the meantime, preheat a frying pan (I fry without oil, but of course this is just personal preference) and fry the copped onions for one minute. Add the copped tomatos, tomato juice and vegetable broth and allow allow to cook and reduce a bit for about 10 minutes. Shortly before the pasta is donne, add 
ricotta and herbst to the tomatos and mix well. Season with some pepper. Mix the pasta with the sauce and serve.

Herbwise you're free to vary. I used one tablespoon of chives (fresh) and one teaspoon of dill (also fresh) plus some dried thyme and Italian herbs.

Quick berry cake

I felt like baking a cake today, so I called my parents if I should come round in the afternoon for coffee and cake. What a stupid question! As long some sweets are involved, my dad is in for everything, so of course they said yes.
I had some currants in my fridge, which were too sour for me taste to just eat them like this so I knew I have to use them for baking or so. When I had a look into one of my favorite baking books I came across some Raspberry and white chocolate slices and decided to try it with the currants.

It was the first time I tried blindbaking and it didn't really worked out as I used not enough beans. So make sure that you'll get enough heavy stuff on top of the pastry to keep it flat! My substitute grandparents by the way wash stones of apricots or plums and use them instead of beans for blindbaking.

You'll need for one small cake, perfect for 4 servings:
150 gramm of shortcrust pastry - I found one that is already in a small baking dish so there is no additional work
300 g currants, raspberries, blueberries or whatever berry you'd like
200 g Philadelphia
50 g yoghurt
50 g sugar
50 g grouned almonds
50 g white chocolate, in small pieces
1 egg
Some sliced almondes
Some lemon zest if you like

Preheat the oven to 160°. Put the pastry in a baking form (or take one that is already in a form as I did.... Lazy version...), cover with a baking sheet and fill with beans or whatever you take for blindbaking. Bake for 10 minutes, take the beans and the paper away and bake for another 5 minutes.
In the meantime mix the Philadelphia, yoghurt, almonds, sugar and egg till smooth and season with some lemon zest if you like. Cut the chocolat in pieces, wash the berries and gently stirm it into the mixture.
Fill the mixture into the dough, sprinkle with a handfull of sliced almonds and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.
Allow plenty of time to cool down, preferably in the fridge.