Ingredients
- 1 pound orecchiette or penne pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 ounces prosciutto, cut into 2-inch strips
- 12 ounces asparagus, trimmed and sliced thinly on bias (about 2 cups)
- 3/4 cup Spinach-Ricotta Dip, recipe follows
Directions
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat. When it boils, add pasta and cook as indicated on box.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. When it shimmers, add prosciutto and cook, stirring occasionally, until prosciutto is crisp, about 5 minutes. Add asparagus and toss to coat evenly. Let cook until asparagus just starts to get browned on the edges, about 3 minutes.
Remove 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. Add a few tablespoons of the water to the asparagus mixture, stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate browned bits, and remove from heat. Drain pasta and return to pot (off heat), add remaining reserved pasta cooking water, asparagus, Spinach-Ricotta Dip, and stir until thoroughly coated. Taste and adjust seasoning, as desired. Serve immediately.
Spinach-Ricotta Dip:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed
- 1/2 cup fresh ricotta
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add pine nuts and cook until they make a popping noise and start to brown, about 1 minute. Stir in garlic and onion and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to a food processor fitted with a blade, add in remaining ingredients, and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning, as necessary.
Yield: 2 cups
Photo: Spinach-Ricotta Pesto Pasta with Crisp Prosciutto and Asparagus Recipe


















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By juditsore
New York
on May 04, 2011
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Very tasty dish.I have added sauteed red onions and garlic to the asparagus part of the dish. I also subsituted the prosciutto with smoked bacon. I will definitely will make this dish again.
By sammijo10
Greenfield, NY
on April 11, 2011
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Quite good for quick week-night one dish meal. Even though I tasted the Spinach Ricotta dip and it was tasty and the prosciutto and asparagus was tasty, when added to the pasta it was altogether a little bland. Added some Romano and a bit of black pepper to the final product and moved it up to tasty. Would make again and might even add some peas to the asparagus mixture. The crisy prosciutto was awesome.
By melindawegener
Gilbert, AZ
on August 25, 2009
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This dish was not very good. It didn't have much flavor and was really dry. Even adding parmesan on top didn't help much. Unfortunately, I made it for guests. It was worse the next day. We added balsamic vinegar, which overpowered what the recipe was supposed to taste like and just basically made it a balsamic pasta salad. I would never make this again. This is my first Food Network recipe disappointment.
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