Super easy weeknight pasta

It's no secret, we eat a lot of pasta at the Little Lake House. Pasta of all kinds. The Chef favors pastas like spaghetti and linguine with big bold Italian style red sauces, and I like lighter sauces, delicate pasta, or at the other end of the spectrum, big hearty pastas and creamy sauces. I'm not a big fan of Alfredo sauce, I think it gets overused on menus and reminds me of ranch dressing- overused. But toss the pasta with a scoop of ricotta or creamy mascarpone cheese and now we're talkin'. 

You definitely need a hearty pasta to hold up with a creamy sauce. Of course gnocchi is a great option, but so are bigger pastas such as orecchiete or "little ears." I love orcchiette because it's cute cup shape holds sauce and bits of garlic, onions, vegetables, whatever your sauce contains. Rigatoni is another big bold pasta shape that I love and also works wonderfully in the recipe we are making today.

Coming up with this dish was out of necessity. I had some prosciutto left over from a previous recipe and didn't want to see it go to waste, and some baby spinach left over from another recipe. Just enough of a few ingredients to make a quick pasta toss that's creamy and delicious. Like many pasta dishes, this one is very flexible. Swap the spinach for a cup or so of leftover peas. Add the last few mushrooms hiding in the veggie drawer. Have some unused fresh herbs? Toss them in! If you can't find mascarpone cheese, or say you have about half a cup of cream cheese to use up, go ahead and swap it. Now let's get cooking.

To make my Creamy Pasta with Prosciutto and Spinach, you will need-

• 1 pkg orecchiette or rigatoni
• 8 oz package mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tb olive oil, divided
• 2 tb butter
• couple big handful baby spinach leaves
• 1 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 or 5 slices prosciutto, cut up
• juice and zest of one-half lemon
• salt and pepper

Bring a large stockpot of salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook til al dente. Meanwhile, in small pan heat 2 tb of the olive oil and the butter. Add the mushrooms and saute until tender and browned. If needed, add the remaining olive oil and saute the garlic over medium low heat until softened and not browned. Add the prosciutto and cook for a minute or two until slightly crisped but not like bacon.

When the pasta is done, drain well, reserving a cup or so of the cooking liquid. I like to use one of those bamboo-handled skimming tools from the Asian store- I can scoop the pasta right out of the water. Immediately toss the hot pasta with all the ingredients, adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup cooking liquid if needed (I did not need it) to make a creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately. 

I love the freshness of the spinach in this dish. Barely wilted from the heat of the pasta, the flavor and nutrients are retained, and so is the texture. The Mascarpone cheese melts into a smooth and creamy sauce with the starchy pasta water and the garlic and Parmesan cheese bring a savory tone. The biggest bonus? A luxe ingredient like prosciutto goes a long way in this dish without robbing your wallet and it's much more subtle than bacon. It's so creamy and flavorful with the savory mushrooms and garlic and the fresh pop of lemon I hope you give it a try sometime.

Jumping Off the Bacon Bandwagon

Are you as tired as I am of the Bacon Bandwagon? Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff, but it's everywhere. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, even cocktails and candy. We've done the bacon-wrapped thing here too but I was looking for something a little different, a little more refined. Prosciutto came to mind when I was pondering my options. I knew I was going to use it to roll something, but exactly what I wasn't sure yet.

Exactly what is prosciutto? Well, the short answer- ham. It's a dry cured ham that's usually cut super thin and served in many different dishes. It's cured and not cooked. Typically made from the leg of a pig or wild boar, it can take as long as two years to cure and craft the perfect prosciutto. You need a cool and damp environment to have a good prosciutto. Too warm and the meat is going to soil and be inedible. If you don't have a lot of humidity, you're just making jerky.

What do you do with it? Almost everyone has seen it wrapped around wedges of juicy melon. It might be wrapped around bread sticks or asparagus and roasted. It might be tossed with pasta and a creamy sauce, or cut up and sprinkled on a pizza when it comes out of the oven. Saltimbocca is a classic Italian dish in which pieces of veal are topped with a sage leaf and wrapped in prosciutto. Of course, many a panini is made with prosciutto too. I thought about using it in an appetizer using cubes of chicken and a sage leaf but we just don't need that many appetizers for the two of us. Instead, I have decided to stuff my chicken breasts with a garlicky, herby goat cheese and wrap them, baking until the prosciutto is crispy and brown and so delicious. So non-bacon.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken with Prosciutto

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
• 3 oz goat cheese, room temperature
• 1 tsp minced garlic (one small clove)
• butter
• 1-2 tsp minced fresh thyme, chives, parsley, plus more
• prosciutto
• salt and pepper

Butterfly the chicken breasts- this makes pounding so much more efficient and you don't have to beat the heck out of the chicken to get it the right size for rolling. 

It's super easy to do-place your hand flat on the top of the chicken breast; using a sharp knife, slice the chicken breasts horizontally but NOT all the way through. Lay open the chicken- voila! Place the chicken between sheets of plastic. Lightly pound them with mallet or heavy rolling pin to 1/4 inch thickness. Season with salt and pepper.

In a small skillet melt a tablespoon or so of butter. Saute the garlic for a couple minutes until softened but not brown. Crumble the goat cheese into a small bowl. Add the garlic and herbs, mix well. 

Divide between chicken breasts. Spread or pat the goat cheese evenly over the chicken. It doesn't have to cover every bit of the meat, just evenly. Roll up the chicken.

Using slices of prosciutto, wrap the chicken rolls, and secure with picks. Place on shallow sheet pan. Drizzle with a couple tablespoons of melted butter. Note: If you use a high-sided pan it's much harder for the prosciutto to crisp up nicely. It sort of steams the rolls and we don't want that.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes until chicken is done. While the chicken is in the oven, get your sides together. Sprinkle chicken with additional fresh herbs and serve.

I served the chicken with mashed potatoes made with a little roast garlic, minced fresh herbs, drizzled with the pan drippings from the chicken, and sauteed baby zucchini. It was so delicious! It smelled amazing in the oven- like Thanksgiving dinner- seriously, like a roast turkey, and the prosciutto was SO MUCH BETTER than bacon- super thing, crispy, no flab even on the bottom. The goat cheese added the delicious tangy twist that chicken needs, and is really a blank canvas for you to play with herbs, spices, flavors. Give it a try!