Okay. So I’m cooking dinner tonight for a friend. I’ve been wanting to try out a recipe I saw in the local dining guide from one of the top restaurants in town.
Penne with Vodka sauce.
Sounds wonderful. I’ve got all the ingredients. Nothing I’m really unfamiliar with, except for the prosciutto. I have the prosciutto, which was a story in and of itself, but that’s not the problem. I have no idea how to prepare the prosciutto.
The other problem is that I don’t have the recipe with me at work. I did some searching, and this seems to be very close. Here it is all laid out:
I think I’m most confused about the “1/4 lb. prosciutto ham, chopped” part. Do I completely mince it? Cut it into thin strips (it’s already paper thin)? Square it?
Since it’s so thin, I’d imagine that I don’t need to prepare it seperately - the heat of the dish should do most of the cooking. But I could be completely wrong.
Sorry for the meandering and ramblings of an idiot - just trying to get across what I know and don’t know regarding this dish.
Think of the prosciutto as having to be cut into bite size or smaller. These pieces will be mixed in with the sauce and spread over penne so you don’t want them too big as they will take away from the presentation of the dish. but you dont want them too small or you wont get much of the taste. Not sure if this helps or confuses you more but 1/2 inch square is about right but maybe lil bigger or smaller is fine as well.
hope this helps.
ps the prosciutto is pretty much cooked already and you could eat it cold as is if you.d like. kinda like a cold cut
Your recipe calls for one tablespoon of crushed bay leaves. That is a lot of bay leaf flavor, even for the relatively large amount of sauce you are making. When I am making a stew, I’ll use just one whole bay leaf that I fold and crack down its spine before adding. Due to your confusion on other topics, I’m concerned that you might not enjoy this strong of a bay leaf flavor.
I’d recommend using one or two cracked whole bay leaves that you retrieve from the sauce before step three in your recipe. You are most likely to be using dried bay leaves and the short period of cooking time (10 minutes) will not be enough to rehydrate them. You will be left with large green crunchy flakes in your sauce. If you’re really fond of bay leaf flavor, go ahead and use three or four of the whole leaves, but I’d still recommend fetching them out of the sauce before mixing in the cream.
Fresh bay leaves will be a little more flexible and could be added after chopping pretty finely, but I’d still leave them whole and retrieve them afterwards. To distribute the flavor more evenly, soak the cracked leaves in the vodka before starting on the dish. The alcohol will extract more of the oils that way. You can still cook them off in the sauce as well to get the full effect. B) How spicy do you (or your guest) like your food?
The heat of commercial red pepper flakes can vary widely. I’ve seen some that were quite bland. Others I’ve tried were strong enough that, unless you were a pepper freak, the one teaspoon called for in your recipe would leave the dish almost inedible. If you’re sensitive to the heat, I’d cut the amount of red pepper in half (at least). If the sauce isn’t spicy enough after cooking, bring up the heat with several drops of Tabasco hot sauce. C) Some pointers:[ul][li] When you saute the garlic, be sure to let it go transparent or slightly gold but do not brown it. This will produce a bitter flavor that can destroy the entire dish. Either crush the cloves using a garlic press, or mince them very finely. I’d also consider splashing in the vodka (with the bay leaves still in it) and letting the garlic and vodka mix begin to bubble over very low heat for a minute before continuing. This will evaporate some of the alcohol and eliminate a bit of its sharp note. (If you are working on a gas stove, be sure to have the heat down low before adding the vodka. There can be a suddenly released cloud of alcohol vapor from the hot pan that will flame off.)[/li]
[li] Your tinned tomatoes may come with a lot of juice. You might wish to strain the tomatoes and reserve the liquid. You will then be able to add that juice in increments while the sauce cooks. This will let you adjust how runny the sauce is.[/li]
[li] Be sure to add a little salt and olive (or regular) oil to the pasta water while you bring it to a boil. Make sure not to overcook the pasta. It should be al dente and still present a slight resistance to the bite, instead of being too soft.[/li]
[li] Save some of the chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese for use as a garnish. Once the sauced pasta is plated, dust it with some of the cheese and then top that with a pinch of the chopped parsley in the center. It will add a nice visual appearance to your presentation. A sprig of fresh basil or the parsley will also make a nice garnish at the side of each plate.[/li]
Do not trim any of the fat from the edges of your prosciutto. It contains a lot of the flavor and will add a delightful silky texture to your dish. kookiecanuck’s advice was spot on. Half inch squares should be just right. If you have left over prosciutto, consider wrapping it in a spiral around some regular breadsticks. Angle one wrapped breadstick on the edge of each plate immediately prior to service.[/ul]
Chiming in here, I cook using pancetta and prosciutto quite a bit and I usually have the deli slice it like thick bacon, and chop it on my own when I use it.
Sorry about the hijack, but does anyone know where I can find guanciale in the Chicago area?
Just to clarify compeltely: Proscuitto is a smoked and cured ham product and it does not need to be cooked. It is quite similar in nature (not in taste) to Smithfield Ham (native to Virginia) and to Jamon Serrano which comes from Spain.
You’ve already received advice on how to slice it. BTW, it’s tasty wrapped around cantaloupe!
Zenster, I’m not sure if my recipe at home calls for the bay leaves. In any event, I don’t have any plans on crushing them. I use dried whole leaves, which seem to give me all the bay flavor I need. Soaking them in the vodka sounds like great advice - I’ll go for that.
Also, I don’t like working with pre-chopped tinned tomatoes. The recipe at home calls for crushed - which I usually do manually with canned whole tomatoes. Too much water/sodium/goop in the canned crushed.
I’m a terrible judge of al dente. Luckily my friend greatly enjoys performing her technique of determining if the pasta is done or not - throwing it at the wall and seeing if it sticks. I doubt that will work with penne, but she’s had a rough weekend, and will be allowed to throw anything she wants.
Munch, it sounds like you’re on top of things. I was worried about all the liquid in canned tomatoes as well. If you’re using whole tinned tomatoes, I’d look for ones that are peeled. You still may wish to halve them and strain off all the juice. Del Monte has recently released diced golden Roma tomatoes in the can. This would certainly make for a pretty change up from the regular red ones.
PS: Good on you for cheering up your friend with a nice home cooked meal.
I realize that this will ellicit gasps from some people on this board, but the oil will coat your pasta and prevent the sauce from sticking. I never add oil and sticky pasta is no problem for me, as long as you add your sauce to the pasta right when you drain it!!!
Yeah, I’ve heard from many, many different sources that adding oil to pasta water is useless. The key to not having pasta stick together is to boil it in a lot of water.
More water is good, no doubt about that. The difficulty that the OP expessed about working with prosciutto led me to suspect that they were a beginning cook. I really doubt that a bit of oil will prevent the creamy and cheese laden sauce from sticking to the pasta.
Throwing pasta against the wall will only result in a sticky mess on your wall and a good medium for coliform. The only test of al dente is to eat a piece of the pasta and see if it is pleasing to you. Penne takes somewhat longer to cook that many other pastas. I generally allow about 11-12 minutes.
A small amount of oil in pasta water is NOT for the purpose of preventing the pasta from sticking. It’s to prevent the pot from boiling over (“oil on troubled water” ring a bell?). If some of the oil is coating your pasta, you can always rinse it briefly.