The Pied Piper's Garbanzo Bean, Mushroom, and Prosciutto Penne with a White Wine Parmesan Cream Sauce

I raided my pantry and refrigerator today and came up with this.  It ended up being quite good so I wanted to post the recipe.


Feel free to make changes to this if you want.  My tastes are unique to me.  If you have any great additions or changes to this recipe let me know!  If you try it out and like it (or you hate it) let me know as well!

Preparation Time:  10-15 minutes

Cook Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 x 16oz box of penne pasta
• 1 x 15.5oz can of garbanzo beans (drained)
• 4 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 3 to 4 oz prosciutto, sliced in 1/4” strips
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus extra for plating
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup white wine (if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t use it – I used a tasty Pinot Grigio)
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream (must be heavy cream…light cream or half-n-half may separate)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt (for the pasta water – no extra salt is needed because of the prosciutto)
• About 5-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup reserved pasta water

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Once it boils, add a couple of teaspoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of EVOO to the boiling pasta water.
2. While the water is coming to a boil, slice the mushrooms (or buy pre-sliced), slice the prosciutto, drain the garbanzo beans, chop the rosemary, mince the garlic, and grate the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (I used a micro-plane, but any fine grater will do).
3. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook per the box directions to al dente, stirring occasionally (I turn down the heat a bit so the pasta water will not boil over).
4. While pasta is cooking, heat 2 tablespoons of EVOO in a non-stick skillet.  Add the garbanzo beans, mushrooms, and prosciutto.  Sauté over medium heat (use you judgment – on my cooktop I use medium heat) for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add white wine, garlic, 1-2 tablespoons EVOO, rosemary, and the red pepper flakes to the skillet. Simmer 2-3 minutes.
6. Add heavy cream to the skillet.  Stir the mixture until it return to a simmer.  Turn down the heat to low and continue to slowly simmer until pasta is done.  Stir occasionally.  It is ok if the EVOO and the prosciutto drippings do not combine with the cream (everything will come together at the end).
7. When pasta as been cooked, remove it from the heat and ladle 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the pasta water into the skillet.  Raise the heat of the skillet to medium and stir until simmering.  Let this simmer while you drain the pasta.  (BTW, the starch in the pasta water will help flavor the sauce and it helps any residual oils to combine with the sauce).
8. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot used during cooking.
9. Add the sauce mixture and the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to the pasta.  Mix well.
10. Spoon onto plates and add additional grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to taste.  I glass of the wine used (in my case Pinot Grigio) goes great with this.

Note:  If you like your pasta “wetter” use the larger volumes of the liquids listed (or even add more liquids than I have instructed).  Semolina pasta will soak up more of the sauce than whole wheat so I use the larger liquid volume when it is used.

Enjoy!