Wedding Bucatini with Peas, Spinach and Herb Ricotta + A Tieks Giveaway

I doubt this will surprise anyone, but–I cared a lot about the food we served at the wedding. I wanted our guests to enjoy a truly delicious meal–not an easy task when catering to 150 people at once! I also wanted to showcase the season, at the expense of established “wedding food” favorites.

For months, I worked back and forth with our caterer (Hi, Matt, Maureen and Christina!) until we settled on the menu you see below. All the work was more than worth it–I loved the final product. I’ll never forget it. I wish I could eat these dishes over and over again!

This post is my effort to recreate one of our wedding dishes at home. My version deviates from the original in style, but it brings the same flavors to the table. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

sugar snap pea fresh bucatiniTieks ballet flats

I’m also really pleased to talk about Tieks in this post, since I wear them nearly every day. They are crazy comfortable, fold up for purse-sized storage, and come in a bunch of colors and patterns. (I actually gifted Tieks to the bridesmaids at the wedding, and spent most of my night rocking these.) I concede they’re on the pricier side, but I’ve had my current pair going on two years–I still love them, and I think they’re totally worth the investment. And something else–the people who work at there are just the absolute kindest.

As a gift to you, I’d like to give away a $100 gift certificate to one lucky reader. To enter: 1) Follow Tieks on one of their social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter). 2) Leave a note in the comments–what is the best or worst food you’ve ever had at a wedding? The contest will close Sunday, June 21st at 11:59pm. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Wedding Bucatini with Peas, Spinach and Herb RicottaThe Roaming Kitchen wedding menu

The Roaming Kitchen wedding ravioloThe Roaming Kitchen wedding raviolo

At the wedding, this dish was Raviolo al Uovo with Spinach, Ricotta, Herbs–a spinach and ricotta filled raviolo floating in a warm bath of Parmesan-mushroom broth, topped with crisp, collard green-ribbons.

In translating it to my home kitchen, I made a few changes. I don’t have a pasta roller, so homemade ravioli was out. (Although, if you routinely make pasta at home, feel free!) I decided to use fresh bucatini, which I bought at Eataly. If you can find fresh bucatini, spaghetti, linguine, great–an egg-based dough will best mimic the original dish–however, dried pasta works too. (If using dried pasta, just cook for longer, until al dente.)

I thought about making homemade Parmesan broth, with a handful of dried mushrooms for depth, but then decided against it–it’s June. (When I make this recipe in cooler weather–trading the peas for butter-sizzled mushrooms–I’ll be much happier to stew a big batch of the Parmesan broth.) Instead, I decided on best quality chicken stock with some Parmesan stirred in, similar to this (wonderful) dish. If you have pork stock, that would be great too.

In place of the crispy collards, I wilted fresh spinach and basil into the still-hot pasta, tossing the whole lot with salty butter. The result reminds me of what we ate at the wedding, but is simple enough to make on a weeknight. Serves 4. 

Wedding Bucatini with Peas, Spinach and Herb RicottaWedding Bucatini with Peas, Spinach and Herb Ricotta

Wedding Bucatini with Peas, Spinach and Herb Ricotta

  • ingredients:
  • 2 tablespoons minced parsley
  • 2 tablespoons minced chives
  • 2 tablespoons thinly ribboned basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
  • 5 cups (1.2 liters) best quality chicken stock
  • 2/3 pound (310 grams) fresh bucatini
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
  • 2 tablespoons salted butter
  • 3 cups fresh spinach
  • 3 cups fresh basil
  • 15 cracks black pepper
  • 1.5 cups finely grated Parmesan cheese

  • procedure:
  •      In a small bowl, stir the chopped herbs and the lemon zest into the ricotta cheese.
  •      In a medium-sized pot, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Add the fresh pasta and peas, and cook for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat. Transfer the cooked pasta to a large saucepan. Over low heat, toss the pasta with the butter, spinach, basil, black pepper and Parmesan, until the spinach and basil have wilted. Divide the pasta between 4 bowls, and then pour an equal measure of the chicken stock over each. Top the pasta with a spoonful of herbed ricotta.

Wedding Bucatini with Peas, Spinach and Herb RicottaWedding Bucatini with Peas, Spinach and Herb Ricotta

Photos of the Raviolo al Uovo with Spinach, Ricotta, Herbs and Parmesan by Chellise Michael Photography.

28 Comments

  1. grace

    most of the weddings i’ve attended have been down-home, rustic types, but my best friend had a taco bar that left everybody satisfied (and also left a few people with clothes that were stained forever). surprising and delicious!

  2. Dana B.

    hey! Your wedding was beautiful! I agree – Tieks are the BEST! And as a new mom, a must have! I hope you are doing fantastic and maybe one day we’ll see each other again at a Blair reunion! By the way, congrats on this Blog. It’s great!

    • Dana B.

      Oh and I completely forgot about what I was actually supposed to comment about! I had the most incredible macaroni and cheese at my friends wedding in Key West (believe it or not). I still dream about that delicious bowl of goodness! Haha!

    • CristinaSciarra

      Thanks, Dana! I love seeing your pictures of the baby on facebook It would be great to run into you at Blair!

      • Dana B.

        Thank you! I have to stop myself from posting too many pictures. I’m obsessed! I hope you’re enjoying married life! It’s great!

  3. Sylvie Morgan Brown

    This post is so beautiful, Cristina! Congratulations on a gorgeous wedding. I can’t remember the best or worst food I ever had at a wedding (ha, can I say the best was at mine?), but I DO remember being pleasantly surprised at the way in which the food made it to my plate at my friends’ wedding. Thinking we’d all be served a standard meal at our tables, guests were encouraged to enter the kitchen of the restaurant venue where a long and weaving buffet line of just about every food you could think of was being offered. From pasta station to lobster station to curry station to sushi station, the list went on and on and on; it felt like food heaven and was pretty unforgettable.

  4. This would be the best food I’ve ever eaten at a wedding. It looks amazing! I haven’t actually had a lot of bad wedding meals! Which is kind of crazy!

    I follow Tieks on all their social media channels! I’m obsessed but haven’t splurged on a pair yet! What an amazing giveaway!

    Her Heartland Soul
    http://herheartlandsoul.com

  5. Cori

    I’ve had grilled sardines at a wedding. ahhh

  6. Diane @ Vintage Zest

    The best wedding food I ever had was a butternut squash soup before the main course. Tied for that is a heavenly tres leches wedding cake that my friend chose!
    P.S. – I am following on Twitter now!

  7. Lauren

    I already follow Tieks on Facebook! Love all the colors but haven’t tried a pair yet (hopefully this will change soon!) The best food I’ve ever had a wedding was pie! It was a rustic autumn wedding with homemade pies (with vanilla ice cream!) instead of a wedding cake. So pretty and they tasted amazing!

  8. Malissa W

    This pasta looks sooooooooo good. Lemon zest and ricotta – yes please! Just made my list for next week’s menu!

    The worst wedding food I ever had was a vegetarian pasta entree. They literally put some sauteed squeaky vegetables that came from a freezer bag of vegetables and a small portion of overdone pasta. I still think they forgot a sauce. Gross. At least the cake was good! Thanks for the giveaway and the recipe!

  9. Maria Malaveci

    The absolute worst food I can think of having at a wedding was Steak. I love my Steak Medium Rare, but this was Bloody. Haven’t had many that have been awful though, but this one I really remember. Thanks so much for the giveaway!

    mmalavec(at)med(dot)umich(dot)edu

  10. Catherine A

    The best wedding food for me was fried chicken and Mac and cheese. Can’t go wrong there.

  11. Katie

    Best thing I ever ate at a wedding was a hot dog…after the reception…at 1am, right before the after party started. Had nothing to do with me drinking champagne all day…

  12. Kim Henrichs

    What an absolutely beautiful wedding!! Congrats! That food looks AMAZING!! The best food I ever had at a wedding was a cake that I had at a wedding that took place in one of those lovely mansions in Newport. It was a white wedding cake but with fruit inside – It wasn’t too sweet or anything it was just the best cake I have ever had in my LIFE.

    I follow Tieks on pretty much all of their platforms – love them!

  13. Shinta Salim

    Best food I’ve had in a wedding was chocolate Fondue. I always love chocolate fondue and my friend had a dessert table with a big tall chocolate fondue and they also keep refilling the strawberries and marsmallow for it.. Love love love it!

  14. Nicole

    I’ve only been to two weddings and I’m not sure what I even ate. One of them I ended up being guilt tripped into being the photographer (with no pay!) and was too busy. The other was a pot luck and the food was so unremarkable I don’t remember what I ate.

  15. Heghineh

    This looks so delicious! Thank you for Sharing

  16. craftyone

    the best thing is always the cake. it was a very moist lemon cake

  17. Gina

    This dish is gorgeous! I also just got married, and the food was our main focus, too! We got married in STL, and we served Bogart’s ribs, so that is my (very biased) favorite wedding food that I’ve had!

  18. Juliana

    Cristina, beautiful wedding pictures! You looked stunning. My favorite dish would have to be some kind of shrimps I had at a wedding last year, they were delicious. Hope to see you again soon!

  19. Katrina

    I love your blog… I just started following!
    The best wedding food I had was served family-style at a Malibu ranch. Fish stew, how daring and creative!

  20. Devangi

    Congratulations Cristina for your wedding!
    I can’t remember the worst meal I might have had at any wedding, but there were two dishes that I can remember and were really good-first one fig milk pudding and an Indian dish called ‘Undhiyu’, its a pot of roasted vegetables cooked with green sauce! Totally delicious.
    I love Tieks and started following them on instagram and facebook!

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