Vegetable Pasta with Prosciutto
We combine fresh vegetables, wine, cheese, and prosciutto in a flavorful pasta dish. We have red onions, garlic, broccoli, and mushrooms, but zucchini, spinach, peas, and any kind of onions, would be wonderful in here. Originally served as part of Non-Vegetarian Pasta with Broccoli.
Ingredients
- ½ pound penne rigate pasta
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ large red onion (peeled and chopped)
- 4 ounces fresh cremini mushrooms (wiped clean)
- 1 stalk broccoli
- 1 clove garlic (peeled and minced)
- pinch dried marjoram
- pinch dried oregano
- salt & pepper
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 1½ tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup 2-percent milk
- 6 cherry tomatoes (rinsed and quartered)
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 4 slices thin, to taste prosciutto
Instructions
We begin by putting a large pot of water on the stove over medium heat for the pasta. Next we begin preparing our vegetables. We have about 1 cup of chopped onions. We heat a large pan over medium-low heat with the olive oil and add the onions. As the onions are cooking slowly, we slice the cleaned mushrooms and cut the broccoli into florets. We rinse the broccoli florets in a colander and discard the stalk (we could have used it for a soup!). We stir in the mushrooms to the softened onions and raise the heat to medium.
As the onions and mushrooms are cooking and the pasta water is coming to a boil, we place the butter into a pot and begin melting it over low heat.
The pasta water has come to a boil so we add some salt and the pasta. We stir and time the pasta for a couple of minutes shy of the package directions. We will keep checking the pasta to see when it is al dente.
As soon as the pasta goes in the pot, we see that the mushrooms have released their liquid and are browning, so we add the rinsed broccoli and garlic. We stir and add the dried oregano and marjoram, crushing them in our hands as we add them to the pan. We add some salt and pepper and the wine and reduce the heat to medium-low. We partially cover and cook for 5 minutes.
The butter has melted in our pot and we add the flour. We stir with our "roux whisk" (a flat whisk - but a wooden spoon and regular whisk would work) and cook over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, we place the milk in the microwave for 1 minute to heat. When the flour-butter mixture has cooked for 2 minutes, we add the milk and whisk to remove all lumps. We raise the heat slightly and bring the mixture to a boil. We lower the heat and simmer gently for a couple of minutes.
When the pasta is cooked, we drain it in a colander. We pour the thickened milk mixture into the simmering vegetables and add most of the cooked pasta (as much as will fit in the pan). We add the cherry tomatoes and grate some parmesan into the pan with our microplane grater. We taste for salt and pepper and reseason. We serve topped with strips of the prosciutto and more parmesan cheese.