Very few cupboard staples are as crowd-pleasing as pasta is. This is because pasta pairs well with so many different foods and flavours.
However, while pasta itself is easy to cook, there are many difficult and time-consuming recipes that involve pasta.
One recipe that this is not the case for is Mary Berry’s “delicious” pasta dish that has “tons of flavour”.
Mary said: “This is my standby pasta supper as it is so delicious, so quick and everyone loves it.
“Great for every day or for casual supper parties too. Its base is a creme fraiche pasta sauce and it’s topped with crispy parma ham, which gives tons of flavour and great texture.”
READ MORE: I made Mary Berry’s ‘easy’ scones in under 30 minutes – they turned out amazing
This recipe can be made in just 15 minutes and can serve six people. As I only intended for the recipe to serve three, I halved the ingredients listed below.
Ingredients
350g penne pasta
160g Parma ham, snipped into smaller pieces
250g small brown chestnut mushrooms, sliced
200g full-fat creme fraiche
100g parmesan, grated
Two tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and black pepper
To serve (optional)
Green salad
Crusty bread
Method
1. I began the recipe by cooking the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water. Depending on your pasta, this typically takes around 15 minutes. While the pasta was cooking, I used this time to make the sauce.
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2. To make the sauce, I started by frying off the Parma ham. Make sure that the frying pan is hot before frying it so it becomes crispy. This took about two to three minutes.
When frying the Parma ham there was no need to add any oil as there was already fat on the meat.
Once crisp, I transferred half the ham onto a plate and set aside. Next, it was time to add the mushrooms to the pan and fry them for two minutes – or just until they go slightly soft.
With the mushrooms softened, I added the creme fraiche and some pasta water and brought the sauce to the boil.
Although the recipe calls for full-fat creme fraiche, for those who want to use a reduced-fat version, just stir it through at the end of cooking otherwise it will split.
By this time the pasta was cooked, so I added it to the sauce with the parmesan and parsley and then combined it together over the heat. While the pasta and sauce were in the pan I finished seasoning it with salt and pepper.
Plating up a portion of the pasta, I added some remaining parmesan, Parma ham and parsley on top for garnishing. This dish can be served with a green salad and crusty bread, however, I decided to keep it simple and just go with the pasta on its own.
Going in for a taste test, I was surprised at how much I liked it as I’m not usually a fan of creme fraiche, but the parmesan and ham gave it such great flavour. With it being such a quick and easy recipe, I’ll definitely be making this again.
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