Recipe: Pasta and Prosciutto in a Creamy Leek Sauce

It's been pretty rainy and dreary so far this week, and the grey skies and cool temperatures definitely make me crave comfort foods—mac&cheese, pancakes, hot tea—and this rich and creamy pasta dish certainly fits the bill. With sweet and oniony leeks and shallots, fresh garlic, salty prosciutto, and buttery cream, this pasta dish has it all—it's rich, flavorful, and definitely the perfect comfort food.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
• Olive oil (enough to lightly coat the bottom of a large pan)
• 4 oz. prosciutto, roughly chopped (about 1-2 inch pieces)
• 2 leeks, thinly sliced (leeks are notorious for being sandy and dirty, so be sure to soak and clean them thoroughly, and only use the white part for the dish)
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1&1/2 to 2 cups heavy cream
• Milk (preferably 2%), as needed
• 8 oz. angel hair pasta, or other long pasta (spaghetti, linguine, etc.)
• 4-6 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade cut
• Dried thyme, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Grated Italian cheese, as desired

Directions

Heat the 4 tbsp. butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pieces of prosciutto and cook until just starting to brown and crisp, then add the leeks and shallots. Once the leeks and shallots have started to soften (about 5 minutes), add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the chicken stock and slowly stir in the heavy cream, then add salt, pepper, and thyme. Let the sauce bubble and thicken over medium-low heat—add milk if needed to add a little volume to the sauce, and be sure to taste test to make sure the flavor is good. While the sauce is bubbling away, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions (about 4-5 minutes). Drain the pasta and return it to the pot, then pour the thickened sauce over it, add fresh basil, and toss to combine. Serve topped with Italian cheese.

This sauce is incredibly flavorful—it's sweet, salty, oniony, buttery—and the heavy cream and splash of milk make it so creamy and rich. Fresh basil helps cut through the richness and a sprinkling of Italian cheese blends perfectly into the dish. Prosciutto is a nice change from chicken or no meat at all, and its salty flavor works well with the other flavors in the sauce. It's perfect for a cool evening, yet easily made into a warm weather dish with the addition of a garden salad and a glass of white wine.

Recipe: Spaghetti al Melone

Hopefully I don't sound like a broken record, but once again, I made a Giada De Laurentiis recipe tonight: Spaghetti al Melone. Sometimes I think I should just follow in the footsteps of the blogger that inspired the Julie and Julia movie and work my way through all of Giada's cookbooks—Haha! Anywho, a few days ago on her show, Giada at Home, Giada and her aunt pulled some recipes from her grandmother's cookbook and made them for a sort of "comfort food/blast from the past" meal (original recipe can be found here). The recipe I'm sharing tonight caught my eye because it was so different from other pasta-with-sauce dishes that I've seen and made. The sauce is made with cantaloupe, which may seem a little odd, but the saltiness of that particular melon makes it perfect for certain savory dishes. I remember having melon wrapped in prosciutto as an appetizer during my homestay in Italy in high school, when I traveled with People to People International, and the combination of sweet and salty was perfect. Though the recipe doesn't call for it, I used that Italian appetizer as an inspiration and added crispy crumbles of prosciutto to the dish and the meal turned out great.

Serves: 4-6
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 lb. spaghetti pasta
• 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan
• 1 (2 lb.) cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces (if you're feeling lazy, just buy a few packs of already-sliced cantaloupe)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 stick (4 tbsp.) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup whiskey
• 2 tbsp. fresh or bottled lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4-6 slices of prosciutto, chopped into small pieces

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente (8-10 minutes). Drain and return it to the pot. Add the Parmesan and toss well. In the meantime, place the melon in a food processor and blend until chunky, then set aside. In a medium saucepan, heat the heavy cream and butter over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth (about 2 minutes). Add the melon, lemon juice, and whiskey to the cream and butter mixture. Simmer until the mixture thickens (about 10 minutes; it did not thicken much when I made it, but it worked out just fine). Stir in the salt and pepper. Pour the melon sauce over the pasta and toss until it's coated. In another medium saucepan, sauté the prosciutto pieces in a little butter or olive oil until slightly crispy. Plate the pasta and top it with a sprinkle of crispy prosciutto and grated Parmesan cheese, and serve.

I absolutely LOVED this meal—by far my favorite dish of all the new dishes I've made in the past few weeks. It's light, buttery, creamy, salty, and so delicious! The melon adds a slight sweetness to the dish, while the Parmesan brings out the saltiness of the melon. Crispy prosciutto and a little extra Parmesan on top make this dish perfect. Giada's grandmother had the right idea when she decided to mix melon and pasta!

Recipe: Prosciutto and Spinach Ravioli

I made this recipe for my dad and myself a few weeks ago, while my mother was on vacation at the beach with her mother, and we both loved it. My mom heated up some of the leftovers when she got home a day or so later and really enjoyed the ravioli too, so she asked if I'd make the recipe again, and that's what was on the menu tonight. This recipe comes from my Giada De Laurentiis Everday Pasta cookbook (recipe is originally called Prosciutto Ravioli; I've made slight changes) and what I love about it is that you don't have to make fresh pasta to make the ravioli—wonton wrappers take the place of pasta sheets and they are perfectly tender when you bite into them. They cook quickly too!

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: Approx. 4 minutes per batch
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz.) container whole-milk ricotta (I use a lite/skim ricotta to make the meal a little less fattening)
• 1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 4 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 48 square wonton wrappers
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (I use a little less to make the dish a little healthier)
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Extra virgin olive oil

Directions
Whisk or stir the spinach, prosciutto, ricotta, egg yolks, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend. Place approx. 1 tbsp. of the mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Brush the edge of the wrapper lightly with water, then fold the wrapper in half, point to point, closing the wrapper completely and forming a triangle. Pinch the edges together to seal, then transfer the ravioli to a baking sheet. Repeat until all the wrappers and/or filling is gone, placing each ravioli on the baking sheet as you go along.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Working in batches, cook ravioli until tender (about 4 minutes per batch), stirring occasionally. Place cooked ravioli in a large shallow dish. Drizzle them with a little olive oil and toss them gently every so often to keep them from sticking to each other. Cover the dish as you go along adding to it so the ravioli stays warm.
Melt the stick of butter in a small skillet over medium heat, then add the oregano, stirring to blend. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the mixture over the ravioli and toss them gently so they're all coated. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

These ravioli are packed with flavor and very filling! The wonton wrappers are tender, the prosciutto adds a delicious saltiness to the dish, and the oregano-butter sauce is light and doesn't overpower the other flavors in the dish. The ravioli reheats wonderfully and you could easily substitute in beef, chicken, or other meat (though you'll need to cook it a little first) in place of the prosciutto and try a different sauce, like pesto or marinara.

Recipe: Chicken Stuffed with Spinach, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese

So, I got too much prosciutto when I bought the ingredients for my ziti dish the other night and, too lazy to find a recipe that included it, I made up my own for dinner last night. I'm warning you now: when I share the recipe, I'm estimating just about every measurement, because I was comfortable guessing at the amount of things I needed, but it should work out great and you should trust yourself to know how much is enough (or how much is too much...if the stuffing is pouring out all over the place, you've probably made too much).

The chicken, fresh out of the oven

Ingredients (for the chicken)

• 2 chicken breasts
• 6-8 oz. prosciutto, chopped
• 2-4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled/chopped
• 1/2 cup spinach, chopped (you can use fresh; or thaw out frozen spinach, squeeze it dry, and use that) 
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper
• Cooking spray or butter

Directions
Mix together the prosciutto, goat cheese, spinach, and garlic. Now, there are two ways you can stuff the chicken: a roulade, in which you spread the mixture on one side of the chicken (after the chicken has been pounded into about a 1.5 inch thickness) and roll it up, or a stuffed breast, in which you cut a pocket into a chicken breast and stuff the pocket. Whichever method you decide on, make sure you put a few toothpicks in the chicken to hold it together. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and add a drizzle of olive oil, then place in a greased, oven-safe dish and bake at 350* F for 45 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink inside.

So, it's certainly not a magazine-worthy picture, but here's the finished dish

Stuffing chicken is a great way to get rid of some extra veggies or a leftover hunk of cheese and you can put pretty much anything inside chicken and make it taste great. As you can see, I used spinach, prosciutto, and goat cheese, but combinations like basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and fontina cheese or arugula, blue cheese, and bacon work well with this dish too, and any number of ingredients can be put together to make a stuffing. I served a basil and goat cheese polenta and oven-roasted asparagus on the side for this dish, but potatoes or pasta and any kind of vegetable would have worked well with this dish. Overall, this meal was well-balanced, flavorful, and filling, so try it out and experiment with different ingredients for the stuffing!

Recipe: Ziti with Prosciutto, Asparagus, and Mozzarella

My parents are driving over to State College tonight and spending most of Saturday there, so I was left to fend for myself for dinner tonight. I'd thought about just tossing together a salad or heating up a Smart Ones meal (hey, even cooks are entitled to a few "off" nights), but I hadn't had much to eat today and I was craving one of my all time favorite dishes (and the dish my boyfriend most often asks me to make): Giada De Laurentiis' Ziti with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzarella, and Prosciutto (from her Everday Italian cookbook). Now, I have a habit of tweaking almost every dish I make (sometimes even on the first try making them, which is typically a no-no in the cooking world), and this one is no exception. I use regular mozzarella instead of smoked and I saute the prosciutto to give it a little crunch in the pasta. I'm also at that stage in my cooking where I only loosely follow measurements and timers, and once I've made something once, I can usually do it again and again without the recipe by my side. So, I'll share her recipe, but share the way I make it and do my best with the technical stuff, like measurements and timing.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper
• Butter or margarine
• Dried basil
• 8 oz. dried ziti or other tubular pasta (about 1/2 a box of pasta)
• 1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (they're sold in bundles, and I usually use the whole thing)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 oz. (about 1/2 cup) mozzarella cheese, diced (I just buy an 8 oz. Bel Gioioso brand mozzarella ball...and use all of it...what can I say?—I like cheese!)
• 3 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into small squares
• 3 tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil
• Italian cheese (to sprinkle on top of the finished product)

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ziti and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the asparagus and cook until the pasta is al dente and the asparagus is bright green and crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain the pasta and asparagus, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid (I typically don't reserve any liquid, but if you want a wetter pasta, or more of a sauce, keep it).
In the meantime, while the ziti and asparagus are cooking together, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over a medium flame. Add the minced garlic and prosciutto and cook the prosciutto until it turns to a darker brown/pink and is slightly crispy. Toss the cooked prosciutto, cubes of mozzarella, and fresh basil with the pasta and add in butter (about 1 tbsp.), olive oil (about 4 tbsp.), dried basil, salt, and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the Italian cheese of your choice and serve.

This dish is very filling and reheats wonderfully. The prosciutto gives it a bit of a salty flavor, while the butter and olive oil create a light, almost-creamy sauce (trust me, you don't need cheesy or tomato-packed sauces to make pasta delicious). Be forewarned: The mozzarella will melt quickly and it can make the dish a little tricky to eat (you may even need a butter knife to cut through the melty, stringy cheese), but I personally love getting globs of the cheese in my bites of pasta.  All in all, a delicious and easy dish to make, and perfect for lunch the next day.