From Faith: This is a pasta you will want to make again and again all year, including Summer, and here’s how I discovered it… I was swooning over the design treasures in a store named after its Sag Harbor, NY owner, Susan Youngblood, downtown on the East End of Long Island. The place is littered with devastatingly beautiful and rare international pieces from decades past including chandeliers, floor lamps, desks, art, tables and chairs. Just as my eye fell on a small, exquisite chandelier from a Viennese chocolate shop, I heard Susan Youngblood mention the recipe she had just received from her art dealer friend in Rome, Pierpaolo Falone, who makes it at his home for many of his guests. Soon we discovered that Susan is a Food Schmooze® listener, and we convinced her to share what turns out to be an incredibly delicious and easy recipe — a pasta with lemon juice, lemon zest, prosciutto, chopped chives, butter and Parmigiana Regianno. We’re printing Pierpaolo’s charming recipe just as it was sent to Susan online:
Pierpaolo Falone of Rome:
“You need some thick homemade fettucine or tagliatelle…this is the kind of pasta I prefer, but even some other homemade kinds of pasta of your choice can be used. It is important it is thick because (that way) one feels more the flavour of the fresh pasta. Then some prosciutto not too thick slices that have to be cut in little pieces (cubes); butter, grated Parmesan, and fat-skinned lemons. The amount of ingredients depend on the number of servings, of course; usually one lemon (plus) 150 grams of prosciutto (3/4 cup) is enough for a lot of pasta. If you like fresh chives you can add a bit of that flavour.
“While the water for the pasta is boiling, put the butter in a pot and soften it with a fork hottened by water, and add to it some lemon juice and some zested lemon skin…it has to come out (tasting like) a bitter sweet combination, according to the amount of pasta required. After having done this, add some of the prosciutto and (chopped) chives on top without mixing, and let it stay to let all the flavours melt together until your pasta is (done.) Pasta should not be fully rinsed and totally dry. When it is ‘al dente,’ put it in the pot (with the butter and lemon), add some more butter, if needed; the rest of the prosciutto and chives and a lot of (fresh) grated Parmesan. Toss it again and serve it! Have fun with it and see you soon.”
Really, it’s sensational, and you can taste it at the end, adding more of whatever you’d like — more cheese, butter, lemon, chives, or freshly grated cheese and salt and pepper. Pierpaolo is right when he says have fun with it.
