paglia e fieno with prosciutto, peas, cream

Paglia e fieno (straw and hay in Italian) is a beautiful dish made with a combination of green (spinach) and yellow fettucine and a cream sauce. There are several options for the ingredients in the sauce, with peas and prosciutto (or ham) the primary ones, but mushrooms are also used quite frequently. The mushroom combination will be presented here as an option.

for the sauce:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 6 ounces of prosciutto, or ham, thinly sliced in julienne-type strips
• one cup fresh or frozen peas
• one and a half cups fresh white or crimini mushrooms, sliced or diced (optional)
• one cup heavy cream
• one-half cup freshly grated Parmesan
• salt and freshly ground pepper

for the pasta:

• one-half pound freshly made green (spinach) fettucine and one-half pound freshly made yellow fettucine

Since we like the peas slightly al dente (like the pasta), and there is an easy danger of them getting too soft or mushy in the sauce preparation, we prepare the peas, either fresh or frozen, first. Parboil them until they are almost perfect to your taste (they will cook slightly longer in the sauce, but not much). Set aside.

Put the butter in the saute pan over a low to medium heat. Add the onions and cook them until they are just softened, slightly gold.

Mushroom option: if you are using the mushrooms proceed as follows: (if you are not including mushrooms, go to the next step with the prosciutto). The mushrooms (white or crimini) should be thinly sliced, or even diced in quarter-inch squares. Turn the heat up. Add the mushrooms. Stir; add some salt and pepper, turn the heat down to low. Allow the mushrooms to release their moisture (a minute or two), and then turn the heat up to high and stir frequently, until the moisture released is boiled away, almost.

Turn the heat to medium, add the prosciutto and cook, stirring, for 2 - 3 minutes. It should have lost any raw look.

Add the cream. Turn the heat to medium-high. Add the previously-prepared peas at this point. Stir frequently until the cream has reduced to almost half. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Cook the pasta together, in plenty of boiling, salted water (see below) until it is almost al dente. (the yellow pasta might take slightly longer to cook than the green, so put the yellow in the water first; the green maybe thirty seconds later and stir them well together). When almost al dente, remove from heat and drain well.

Return the sauce to heat, add the pasta, and toss the two together (trying not to bruise the peas too much). Tossing is so vital to the ultimate success of this dish. Do it well! Add the parmesan and toss a few more times.Serve immediately on warmed plates or platter. Maybe add a touch more parmesan to the dish and enjoy.

the next posting will have two more options for preparing paglia e fieno. Look forward!

fettucine all'Alfredo

This is one of the simplest, most satisfying and comforting pasta dishes one will find. It is the perfect sauce for fresh, home-made egg pasta. It takes but a few minutes to make, and it provides tasting delight ten-fold.

Alfredo, the owner of a restaurant in Rome, made this dish famous. The sauce is also known as "alla panna", especially when used with tortellini.

for the sauce:

• 4 tablespoons sweet butter
• one cup heavy cream
• one-half to one cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (to one's taste)
• a pinch of nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground pepper

for the pasta:

• one pound of freshly-made egg pasta, fettucine or tagliatelli. This is also a perfect sauce for tortellini.

Put the butter and cream into a saute pan; turn the heat to medium and boil. Stir constantly. Boil until the cream reduces somewhat, almost half. Add the salt and pepper and the touch of nutmeg. Set aside.

Cook the pasta, in plenty of water (as in recipe following) until it is almost al dente. Drain it, shaking out the moisture.

Return the saute pan to medium heat. Add the pasta. Toss. Then slowly add the cheese, tossing thoroughly as adding. As always, serve immediately on warmed plates or bowls (a touch of parsley adds color) and enjoy!

A note on pasta fresca: there are four basic sizes (by width) of flat pasta fresca. Fettucine and tagliatelle are basically interchangeable, although true tagliatelle, which you would get in Bologna, is slightly wider. They are about one-quarter inch in width. Tagliolini is thinner: less than half the width of fettucine. If one is using a pasta machine, run the pasta through the wider cutter for fettucine and the smaller for tagliorini. Pappardelle is the widest of the fresh pastas, around three-quarters inches wide. It must be cut by hand.

a classic, simple ham sauce for fettucine (or similar) pasta

Ham and cream sauce

There are several classic pasta sauces that use butter and cream, and then one or several other ingredients, to be used with a pasta fresca (egg pasta). These elegant combinations are true classics -- simple, perfectly melding, and exquisite to taste.

for the sauce:

• five ounces of ham (not sliced, preferably a slab about one-half inch thick)
• six tablespoons of unsalted butter
• one cup heavy whipping cream
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• dash of nutmeg (optional)
• one-half cup Parmigiano (freshly grated of course)
• touch of parsley (optional)

for the pasta

• one pound of pasta fresca (egg pasta) such as fettucine or tagliatelle. The beautiful, tubular egg pasta, garganelli, would also be wonderful.

We had cut slabs of ham, about one-half inch thick, from our 22-pound Easter ham, and then froze the slabs for future use (such as this). Cut the ham into small squares, one-quarter to one-half inch thick. Melt the butter over a low heat in a saute pan. Add the ham and saute for three to four minutes, stirring gently, occasionally. Set aside (or keep warm on the burner).

Cook the pasta. Remember to use enough water: four to five quarts for one pound of pasta (do not scrimp). Add salt to the water when it boils, add the pasta and cook until just short of al dente (it will cook a little more in the saute pan). We found the best way to judge whether a pasta is properly done is by constantly testing: using one of those wooden pasta forks, pulling out a strand, and tasting. When the pasta is ready, almost al dente, drain well.

Return the heat to the saute pan. Add the drained pasta to the sauce in the pan. Then add the cream, a little at a time, stirring and tossing as you go. Tossing is so important. Each strand should be coated evenly and thoroughly, joining the two separate entities, the pasta and the sauce, into a single, delightful whole. Add the nutmet and the salt and pepper to taste. Another toss or two. Sprinkle the parmesan on top and serve immediately on the warmed plates or platter. A touch of prsley on the serving adds color.

Buon appetivo!

. . . the next posting will continue with butter and cream and pasta fresca classic recipes