Prociutto & Pea Sauce

This Italian pasta sauce is built on reduced cream enriched with crispy prosciutto, sweet peas, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Reducing the cream by a third before building the sauce concentrates it into something thick and silky that clings to every tube of penne.

The prosciutto sautés with shallot for just a minute. You want it slightly crispy but not crunchy, so it melts into the cream and adds salty, porky depth to every bite. The sun-dried tomatoes bring a concentrated, almost jammy sweetness and a subtle chew.

Finishing the pasta in the sauce over low heat (instead of just tossing and serving) lets the penne absorb some of that cream. The starch from the almost-al-dente pasta thickens the sauce even further and bonds it to the noodles.

Pro Tips

• Reduce the cream first, separately. This step is easy to skip but makes all the difference. Unreduced cream is too thin and slides right off the pasta.
• Soak dry sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water for 2 minutes to rehydrate them. Oil-packed ones can go straight in.
• Cook the pasta to just under al dente before adding to the sauce. It finishes cooking in the cream and absorbs flavor as it does.
• Use freshly grated Romano cheese. Pre-grated cheese doesn’t melt as smoothly. Stir it in off the heat so it incorporates without clumping.

Variations

• Pancetta swap: Use diced pancetta instead of prosciutto for a meatier, fattier pork flavor.
• Asparagus and pea: Add blanched asparagus tips with the peas for a springtime version.
• Lemon cream: Stir in lemon zest and a squeeze of juice at the end for a brighter sauce that cuts through the richness.