Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [80]
For 4 servings
1 pound fresh, young peas, unshelled weight, OR ½ of a 10-ounce package tiny frozen peas, thawed
¼ pound bacon, preferably lean, slab bacon
Salt
¼ pound fresh ricotta
1 tablespoon butter
⅓ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 pound pasta
Recommended pasta First choice goes to conchiglie for the deftness with which its hollows catch the sauce, but both fusilli and rigatoni are excellent alternatives.
1. If using fresh peas: Shell them, discard the pods, rinse them in cold water, and cook them in a small amount of simmering water until they are just tender. The time varies greatly depending on the freshness and youth of the peas.
If using thawed frozen peas: Begin the sauce at Step 2.
2. Cut the bacon into short, narrow strips. Put it into a small sauté pan, and turn on the heat to medium. Cook until it becomes very lightly browned, but not crisp, and the fat melts. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat from the pan.
3. Put the cooked fresh peas or the thawed frozen peas in the pan with the bacon. Cook at medium heat for about 1 or 2 minutes, stirring to coat the peas thoroughly.
4. Put the ricotta in the bowl the pasta will subsequently be tossed in, and crumble it with a fork. Add the butter.
5. Cook and drain the pasta, and put it in the bowl, tossing it immediately with the ricotta and the butter. Rapidly warm up the peas and bacon, and pour the entire contents of the pan onto the pasta. Toss thoroughly, add the grated Parmesan and 2 or 3 grindings of pepper, toss once or twice again, and serve at once, with more grated cheese on the side.
Peas, Peppers, and Prosciutto Sauce with Cream
PEAS AND PROSCIUTTO make one of the most light-handed pasta sauces with cream. In the version below, peppers are added, increasing the vivaciousness of the sauce with their aroma, their texture, their ripe red color.
For 4 to 6 servings
3 meaty, ripe red bell peppers
3 tablespoons butter
A ½-inch-thick slice of prosciutto OR country ham, OR plain boiled unsmoked ham, about 6 ounces, diced very fine
1 cup tiny frozen peas, thawed
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
1 to 1½ pounds pasta
Recommended pasta There is no more appropriate sauce than this one for garganelli, or handmade tubular macaroni. It would also go quite well with short, tubular factory-made pasta such as maccheroncini or penne.
1. Roast and skin the peppers, and remove their seeds. When you have thoroughly dried them, patting them with paper towels, cut them into ¼-inch squares and set aside.
2. Put the butter and diced prosciutto into a sauté pan and turn on the heat to medium. Cook for a minute or less, stirring frequently.
3. Add the thawed peas, and cook for another minute, stirring to coat them well.
4. Add the little squares of peppers, stirring for half a minute or less.
5. Add the cream, salt, and several grindings of pepper, and turn up the heat to high. Cook, stirring constantly, until the cream thickens.
6. Toss the sauce with cooked, drained pasta, swirling in the grated Parmesan. Serve immediately, with additional grated cheese.
Roasted Red and Yellow Pepper Sauce with Garlic and Basil
ROASTING PEPPERS is one way of separating them from their skin, but in this magnificent Neapolitan sauce the peeler is the better way. When roasted, peppers become soft and partly cooked, but to be sautéed successfully, as they need to be here, the peppers must be raw and firm, as they are when skinned with a peeler.
For 4 servings
3 meaty bell peppers, some red, some yellow
16 to 20 fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled
Salt
2 tablespoons butter
⅔ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 pound pasta
Recommended pasta Ridged rigatoni would be best here, but other tubular pasta, such as penne, ziti, or maccheroncini,