Cooking with Patty, my personal collection of Italian recipes

This is a relatively easy to prepare dish that makes a great impression on the table. The Béchamel sauce is the more complicated part of the dish but it’s worth the work your pasta will be delicate and extremely tasty. Béchamel is often used in baked pasta recipes more in the North than the South of Italy which privileges tomato sauce instead.

I chose pasta shells because they mix in better with the sauce and the other ingredients, but you can substitute them with your favorite type of short pasta. The mozzarella should be the Italian one but I know how difficult it is to find it abroad. I have this problem every time I’m in the States and I want to prepare this dish. Buy the regular American mozzarella (the hard one in the cube) and grate it, don’t buy the imitation one, it’s too expensive and it doesn’t taste right. Prosciutto cotto for in Italy is ham, but not smoked. If you can’t find non-smokedham use the smoked variety but add a little less otherwise the strong flavor will be overwhelming.

If you don’t find it use the sweetest ham of your kind or add less of it in the recipe otherwise its strong flavor will be overwhelming.

Ingredients:

1 lb. pasta shells
1-3/4 cups ham (prosciutto cotto*) cut in cubes
1-1/2 cups mozzarella cut in cubes
1 cup fresh ground Parmesan
3 egg yolks
butter

For the Béchamel sauce:

24 fluid oz. milk
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2/3 cup flour
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. First prepare all the ingredients.
2. Once you have everything ready put the water on for the pasta and make the Béchamel sauce.
3. Start by warming the milk.
4. In another pan melt the butter then add and blend the flour for about 2- 3 minutes mixing constantly with a wooden spoon. Use a low heat.
5. Once the butter and flour are blended in add the milk a little at a time. Mix continuously with a wooden spoon. Be certain to avoid lumping!*
6. When you’ve mixed in all the milk grate a bit of nutmeg on top, just a dusting. Add a pinch of salt too.
7. Continue cooking the Béchamel, stirring constantly, until it thickens and becomes smooth about 20 minutes.
8. Once the Béchamel is ready put it in a large mixing bowl to cool down a bit.
9. Add the pasta to the water and cook it. It should be firm to the bite you don’t want to cook it until it’s soft as it will continue to absorb liquids when you bake it.
10. When the pasta is about ready mix the mozzarella, ham, Parmesan and egg yolks into the Béchamel sauce. The drain the pasta well and add it too.
11. Now you can put it into your baking dish. Add some pieces of butter on the top along with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
12. Bake in a oven preheated to 375° for 20 to 25 minutes or until it starts to brown on the top.

Notes:

* If the béchamel becomes lumpy you can try to save it by using a hand blender for few minutes being careful not to make it too liquid.

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