One way to make my husband really, REALLY happy is to prepare this pasta dish for him. He adores prosciutto di San Daniele and I’m pretty sure my family’s love and massive consumption of this amazing cured meat rubbed off on him. Since I can remember, we’ve always kept a whole prosciutto in our basement fridge and, when needed, we simply pulled it out and sliced it up. The standard way to receive guests has always been to serve a huge platter of freshly sliced prosciutto, with some bread sticks and a glass of Prosecco or Friulano wine. What’s called prosciutto here is actually called “prosciutto crudo” in Italy. It’s a genuine, high-quality and dry-cured meat, simply made of Italian pork and sea salt. Unlike many other cold cuts, you won’t find any other ingredients such as nitrates, water or sugar on the prosciutto label. This wonderful pasta recipe calls for Prosciutto di San Daniele. Although Parma ham is probably more available here in the States, I highly encourage you to go out of your way and find San Daniele instead. There’s also no other prosciutto that combines salty and sweet in the amazing way that San Daniele does. It just melts in your mouth. Make sure you ask for paper-thin, but not shredded slices! Maybe if you’re lucky, the person working the slicer will offer you a free sample as they get the thickness right. It happened to us at Whole Foods and I clumsily dropped half of the slice as my husband handed it to me. I nearly cried.
TAGLIOLINI WITH PROSCIUTTO SAN DANIELE
Servings: 2 generous portions | Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 4-5 min
INGREDIENTS
200 g (7 oz) tagliolini (or taglierini) egg pasta
one 1/8 inch-thick slice (about 100 g–a little less than 1/4 lb) of Prosciutto di San Daniele, coarsely minced
2 paper-thin slices Prosciutto di San Daniele to lay on top
20 g (1 1/2 Tbsp) butter
100 ml (1 scant half cup) heavy cream poppy seeds (optional)
chives to garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Heat butter in a pan, add minced prosciutto and let it saute for 1-2 minutes, until it changes color. Add heavy cream, stir and remove from heat.
3. Add tagliolini in boiling water and cook until al dente, for 3-4 minutes. [If the pasta is homemade, cooking time may vary based on how thin you rolled it; if the pasta is store-bought, follow the cooking instructions on the package. The best way is to always test-taste it before draining it.]
4. Drain the tagliolini and pour them in the pan with the sauce. Stir and let it saute for few more minutes, until sauce is partially absorbed.
5. Serve tagliolini on a plate and sprinkle some poppy seeds on top. Arrange a thin slice of prosciutto on top and garnish with chives.
Buon appetito!
-Lisa
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