Pappardelle con Panna, Speck e Piselli
Creamy pappardelle pasta with speck & peas
This pasta dish is traditional of Trentino-Alto Adige and northeastern Italy. It incorporates one of the main foods of the region, Speck. Speck Alto Adige PGI is a protected food of the area regulated by the EU produced in Alto Adige. Speck is a dry-cured, lightly smoked ham. It's not the same as prosciutto, but we like to describe the taste as a "smoked prosciutto". In addition to Speck, this recipe is cooked with scallion, peas and creamy panna da cucina. Panna da Cucina is a staple in Italian cooking (you'll notice we've used this in other recipe pairings of ours as well). It's essentially a cooking cream that's used in pasta, and many other, dishes. It adds a level of richness and creaminess that's unbeatable in pasta! Unfortunately in the USA you don't find Panna in grocery stores (at least around where we live), so we always buy it online. We provided a link below to buy (we always get ours from Amazon). However, you can substitute with crème fraîche if you like. It'll give a similar consistency, but crème fraîche has a little bit more tanginess to it. We would describe the flavor of crème fraîche as between panna and cream cheese.
Total time: 20 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutues
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 2
What you'll need:
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Pasta of your choice. We suggest long pasta (like pappardelle or tagliatelle), but you can use short pasta too.
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1 1/4 cup of frozen peas
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1 chopped scallion
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1/4 lb of speck, cut in thicker slices (like bacon thickness)
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EVOO
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1 300 ml carton of Italian Panna da Cucina (you can buy it online here) or substitute with crème fraîche
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Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Before you start preparing the pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add a generous amount of salt and then the pasta and cook according to instructions (we recommend cooking al dente).
1. First boil the frozen peas in a small saucepan for ~5 mins. Once cooked, drain and set aside.
2. While the peas are boiling, slice the Speck into strips ~1 cm wide
3. Add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil to a large saucepan and sauté the sliced scallion for few minutes at medium heat until translucent.
4. Add the Speck and cook for a a few minutes minutes.
5. Add the peas and cook together for another couple minutes.
6. Add the panna (or crème fraîche) and stir together.
7. Once the pasta is "al dente", drain and add to the saucepan and stir together with the sauce.
8. Serve, grind some fresh black pepper on top and enjoy with our Teroldego!!!
Buon appetito!
