Ricotta Pasta with Peas + Prosciutto

This creamy pasta is balanced with layers of sweet spring flavors and just the right amount of salty punch.

Jun 21, 2024

The Mood: Somewhere between a weeknight and a weekend recipe, perfect for a Friday night. Pair it with a crisp white wine.

This creamy pasta is balanced with layers of sweet spring flavors and just the right amount of salty punch. There’s ricotta. Scallions, lemon, and peas that pop with sweetness in each bite. Parmesan. And the prosciutt! Is anyone else deep in a Soprano’s rewatch? Shatteringly crisp prosciutto adds little salty hits all throughout the dish. There’s just enough of everything that you can’t help but close your eyes when you first dig in.

I’m sharing a few products and cooking tips below for you to marinate on before you get into the kitchen. Make sure to check out the bottom section of the recipe as well, where I’ll break down relevant ingredient swaps to keep it flexible.

^ My cooking setup ft my new fav sous chef!!

A few tips + product recs:

Whenever I make a pasta dish I use a kitchen spider to scoop the pasta directly out of the pot and into the skillet with the sauce. This allows more of the starchy pasta water to cling to the pasta and to make it’s way into the skillet where you’ll build a sauce. Starchy pasta water = more luscious, silky, saucy pasta. If you’re cooking longer noodles use tongs instead.
Speaking of pasta water! I always reserve about 1 ½ cups of it for loosening sauces. I leave the rest on the stovetop off the heat for insurance in case I need a little more. If we’re going to have extra I even put some pasta water in jar in the fridge for bringing leftovers back to life.
Use fresh or frozen peas in this recipe.
This is the ricotta I’ve used for years. Big fan of Bellwether Farms in general.
Prosciutto is expensive, hence the small amount called for here, but a little goes a long way. Add more if you’re into it. Skip it if you’re a vegetarian or if you don’t do pork. If you go that route, bump up the amount of parm.
I like using a pasta shape that can cradle the peas and crispy prosciutto bits. Some kind of mini shell or the campanelle from Flour + Water Foods are fab for this.
I have a lot to say about the lemon! You’ll add the lemon in 2 stages in the recipe. You’ll add the zest and juice of 1/2 of lemon to the skillet and mix it with ricotta. At the end, you’ll add the remaining lemon juice for a fresher layer of flavor. I also like to serve additional lemon wedges with everyone’s bowls for them to squeeze. I can’t overstate how much the lemon juice at the ends makes it! For the zest on the other hand, I find this dish only needs the zest from half of a lemon before it gets *too* sweet and lemony, so I really only recommend the zest of half.
This is fab with a chilled, mineral-forward, not-too-sweet white wine. Love something like the Lorenza Picpoul Blanc to pair with this recipe.
Put on a playlist! Have some fun! Try my Steely Dan Summer playlist, it’s our go-to grilling playlist and it’s just fun for cooking inside, working in the yard, or when you need a little mental pick-me-up. Currently blasting it on my headphones on a Friday morning as my baby naps, 10/10 recommend.

She's gorgeous with no prosciutt she's gorgeous with all pasta shapes

Ricotta Pasta with Peas + Prosciutto

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch scallions, diced
Kosher salt to taste
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 ¼ cup ricotta
1 lemon, plus more wedges for serving
1 cup grated parmesan, plus more for serving
1 lb pasta
1 ½ cups shelled peas, fresh or frozen
Salted butter for finishing, optional
2-3 oz pack of prosciutto, more if desired
Fresh basil for serving

Instructions

Sweat the aromatics + build sauce

Bring large pot of salted water to a boil and preheat the oven to 350*F.
Meanwhile, in large skillet or dutch oven, over medium-high heat add olive oil and scallions. Season generously with kosher salt and stir to combine. Turn heat to medium-low and gently sweat scallions for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are soft and somewhat translucent. We’re not going for browning here, just a gentle cook to soften them and to keep the flavor bright.
Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes on medium-low.
With a microplane grater, zest the lemon. Then slice and juice lemon, set juice aside.
Add ricotta, and half of the lemon zest and juice. Stir to evenly combine. Turn off heat and cover with lid to keep warm.

Crisp the prosciutto + cook pasta and peas

When the oven is preheated, arrange prosciutto in a singe layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set a timer! Remove from oven when done.
Add pasta to boiling water and cook just shy of al dente, as it'll finish cooking in the sauce. I like to cook it 1-2 minutes less than the package instructions call for to account for this.
In last minute or so of cooking, add peas to pasta pot.
Using kitchen spider, scoop cooked pasta and peas out of pasta pot and transfer into skillet with sauce. Reserve 1 ½ cups pasta water and set aside.

Finish + serve

Over medium heat, toss pasta and peas with ricotta mixture and a splash of pasta water to loosen. Add the remaining lemon juice to the pot and stir. This part is up to you to really taste and adjust. Throw in a couple knobs of butter for richness, more parm for more savory salty notes, more lemon for brightness, and continue to taste and adjust, adding more of everything.
Serve in bowls while warm with more parm, cracked black pepper, broken up bits of crispy prosciutto, and fresh basil. I can’t overstate how much the lemon juice makes the dish at the end, so I also like to serve each bowl with a lemon wedge! Enjoy.

Let’s Riff

The Scallions: Scallions add a subtle green, grassy, springy vibe. Leeks would be lovely here. Use diced shallot or yellow onion if needed.
The Peas: Use fresh or frozen peas. Fresh is going to take a lot of effort to get a little tiny pile of peas, but if you’re in the mood for a project and you can find really good peas, go for it. If you go that route you’ll realistically need somewhere between 1 - 1 ½ lbs peas to start. The first time I made this I spent 30 minutes shelling my adorable farmer’s market peas and I still had to pull from my trusty bag of peas in the freezer - shell at your own risk! Alternatively, if you don’t have peas but you have *really* good asparagus, cut it up into tiny, pea-sized pieces and add it to the pasta cooking water like you would the peas. It might need another minute or two. It will add a similar hyper-seasonal vibe.
The Ricotta: Ricotta is mild and slightly sweet, which allows the other ingredients to pop. If you can’t do dairy, I think the Kite Hill vegan cream cheese is actually a really good substitute in creamy pasta for a similar vibe.
The Parm: If you’re dairy-free leave it out and sub in nutritional yeast. Or use a sheep’s milk pecorino, which will add a sharper taste that I love.
The Prosciutto: I love how thin and delicate the crispy prosciutto is here. Texturally it’s just so nice with the little bursts of peas. I haven’t tried this with guanciale or pancetta but if you want to try one of those in place of prosciutto either would probably be fab.
The Basil: Chives would be my preferred sub here.

And there you have it! Drop a line in the comments with any cooking questions, with pictures of your Friday night masterpieces, with wines you think would pair well here - any of it.

And if you’re in the thick of a heatwave and nothing sounds worse than this recipe, save it for when you’re willing to be at the stovetop and turn the oven on. If you’re in need of a no-cook or a grilling recipe recipe I recommend: