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Pasta With Prosciutto and Whole Garlic

5.0(649)

This pasta dish, known as maccheroni alla San Giovanniello in Italy, is amazing in the summer months, when there are good fresh tomatoes around. But you can make it any time of year with canned tomatoes. You could also make it with much less prosciutto, really just enough to season the oil — a quarter cup or so. No matter how much you use, start with a hunk of prosciutto so you can dice chunks; you don’t want little thin slices. If you've got great basil, you can even skip the cheese. If you use fresh tomatoes, you can blanch and peel the tomatoes if you don't like the skins, but it's not really necessary.

by Mark Bittman

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ItalianDinner, Lunch, Quick, Pastas, Main Course

Servings

4 servings

Total time

30 min

Calories / serving

803 kcal

Ingredients (8)

serves

1/3 cup olive oil or butterbutter
10 cloves garlic, lightly crushedgarlic
1/2 cup prosciutto or other salted ham or slab bacon, cut into cubes or stripsbacon
6 plum tomatoes, or 1 1/2 cups drained canned tomatoestomato
Salt and ground black pepper to tastesalt-and-pepper
1 pound cut pasta, such as ziti or penne
1 cup roughly chopped fresh basil leavesbasil
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese, or a combinationpecorino

Instructions (4 steps)

01Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
02Combine the oil, garlic, and ham in a medium to large skillet over medium-low heat. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until the garlic becomes deep golden, nearly brown, all over, 10 to 15 minutes.
03Core and chop the plum tomatoes (or crush the canned tomatoes) and add them, along with salt and pepper, to the skillet. Stir and simmer while you salt the boiling water and cook the pasta.

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Rich recipe — supports nutrition-aware planning.