Pappardelle with Ham,Pine Nuts and Rosemary Sauce

This is a quick, easy and delicious pasta recipe that I adapted from a “Dinner in 20 Minutes” recipe from the Washington Post ( 9/26/07).

I’ve made this three times now, once with plain pappardelle, and twice with Trader Joe’s Lemon Pepper Pappardelle, and it’s so much better with the Lemon Pepper pappardelle.

Ingredients:

8 – 10 oz of pappardelle, Lemon Pepper being the yummiest
1 sprig Rosemary
1 tblspoon lemon juice
1 ½ medium cloves garlic
8 oz of ham (thick or thin sliced)
¼ cup olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts

Cook the pappardelle according to package directions
Finely chop the rosemary leaves and mince the garlic**
Dice or cut the ham into squares
Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the pine nuts and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring often, until they are fragrant and have picke up some golden colour. Add the garlic, ham, lemon juice and rosemary and cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the mixture is fragrant and the ham has darkened in colour. Season with pepper to taste (but you don't really need it if you have the Lemon Pepper pappardelle).

When the pasta is done, drain and transfer to a large bowl: pour the sauce over and toss, then add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil (if desired - works without it) and just toss around gently and then serve warm.

**of course, once I decided to make this, I have neither fresh rosemary or whole garlic, so I substituted the dried rosemary, which works just as well for this, but you may need a little bit more, and then I used 1 teaspoon of the minced garlic from the jar