My wife likes pasta a lot so I’m constantly in the kitchen trying to figure out how to do this better. Authentic Italian? I dunno. My wife is happy! It’s got pasta in it, and it’s delicious. Does that make it Italian? I dunno. I figure you can tell people it’s authentic and they won’t care. If they do care, you need less fancy friends, or you need to let us know how you meet all these cool Italians.
Anyhow, this is a pretty simple dish. One herb and one spice outside of salt and pepper and a few tasty things cooked simply and gently. Don’t go out and get a $30 dollar bottle of wine for this, the $3 dollar one will do just fine. Do go out and find really good basil. What you’ve got in your local supermarket is likely ‘Sweet’ basil, this is fine, and will work, but if you can find a good Genovese basil you’ll be happy (try your local Italian market). It can take a little more heat before it loses it’s flavor and is a bit more aromatic. For the squash, I had access to a Hokkaido squash, which is like a soft shelled pumpkin with a little nuttier taste. It is great in this dish, but I’m sure you’ll be very happy if you try this with a butternut squash, or an acorn squash. Other cured hams work fine with this dish as well, but we are going for Italian here, so a good prosciutto sliced on the thicker side – Bellissimo!
As far as the cooking is concerned, the only thing that is sensitive is the white wine reduction. You want the garlic to brown in order to soften it’s taste a bit, but you don’t want your butter to burn. And when you cook down the wine, you want your sauce to thicken a bit, but stay wet. If you want, you can cook this on low to make sure it comes out right. Don’t cook the basil and prosciutto! Both these things will lose some of their character and flavor if you add too much heat. All the parts can be cooked concurrently to get this done in about 20 min. I always start the process with the squash.
Rigatoni con prosciutto, zucca, e basilico
A tasty pasta dish
Ingredients
- 7 oz (200g) rigatoni
- 10 oz (300g) squash (choose the squash yourself, as long as it isn’t tasteless, it should be good)
- 2 oz (50g) ham
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp ground fennel
- 1 oz (30g) basil
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup (50ml) white wine
- 1/4 tsp black pepper (or to your taste)
- Pinch chili flakes (optional)
- Salt to your taste & about 1/2 teaspoon for boiling the pasta
For the Squash
1. Set oven to 450 degrees
2. Chop Squash into 1 cm cubes. Put in baking pan. Add 1/2 tsp of ground fennel, olive oil, salt and ¼ tsp of black pepper. Stir to ensure all ingredients are distributed evenly.
3. Put in oven until squash begins to char at the corners. About 15 min.
4. While the squash is in the oven, set stove to medium (I have an electric stove that’s tuned a little low so it’s about medium high)
White wine Reduction and Basil
5. Add butter to pan. After it melts add garlic, the remaining 1/2 tsp of fennel, and (optional) chili flakes.
6. As soon as garlic begins to brown add white wine, and salt.
7. Allow everything to boil for 30 sec. Then reduce to a simmer.
8. Sweep a spoon (wooden, yes? This is what you were using anyway, right?) along the bottom of the pan. If there is a streak that is slow to fill, then remove the pan from heat.
9. Add chopped ham to pan and stir until distributed evenly. Then add basil and stir until everything is combined evenly.
Pasta
10. Make pasta. (Just kidding, kinda) – Bring water to a boil with salt (to taste, about a 1/4 tsp for me), and add pasta. Check after about 10 min. Should be tender, but still have a little bite to it. Al Dente – Bellissimo!
11. After pasta is strained return it to the pot away from heat and add white wine and basil mixture (use a spatula, to make sure you get everything from the pan!). Then, add the squash. Stir gently till things are mostly evenly distributed.
12. Put the below song on. Serve pasta while exclaiming ‘Bellissimo’ with your every action. Your cool Italian friends will love it.
makefoodeatlove.com 