Sarah Ubertaccio founded q.b. Cucina to bring home cooks the option to upgrade their everyday kitchen items whenever needed, or “quanto basta,” hence the q.b. in her company name. Besides selling well-designed items, from a traditional pasta comb to enamel bowls decorated with Italian phrases, Ubertaccio offers cooking tips and recipes on her company's website.
Here, she gets us excited for the arrival of springtime ingredients with a garganelli pasta dish that's sure to be a hit.
Straw & Hay Garganelli with Peas, Scallions, and Prosciutto
by Sarah Ubertaccio, Founder of q.b. Cucina
Serves: 4
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
For the garganelli:
4 whole eggs
1 tablespoon pureed spinach
13 ounces (370 grams) 00 flour, plus extra for dusting, divided
For the sauce:
¼ cup unsalted butter
2 cups peas
1½ cups scallions, chopped
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
2 ounces prosciutto, diced (about 8 slices)
½ cup Parmigiano reggiano, finely grated, divided
Method
To prepare the pasta:
Add half of the flour to a clean work surface. Using your fingertips, make a well in the center. Add two eggs and mix together until a shaggy dough starts to form. Knead for about 15 minutes, until smooth and homogenous, adding more flour if the dough feels sticky. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside.
Next, add the other half of the flour to a clean surface. Make a well and add two eggs, plus 1 tablespoon of pureed spinach. Mix by hand until the eggs and spinach are well incorporated into the flour. Knead together for 15 minutes until a smooth dough ball forms. You may need to add a little more flour to this batch to compensate for the additional spinach. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside.
Let both dough balls rest for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours, covered, at room temperature.
Using a hand-cranked pasta machine, roll out the dough, a quarter at a time, into thin rectangular sheets. Using a pasta wheel, cut into 2-inch squares.
To shape the garganelli, wrap the square diagonally around a wooden rod. Roll it over a gnocchi board or pasta comb, pressing down gently to make the ridges and close the square into a tube. Slide the pasta tube off the rod and set aside on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Continue in this way until all the dough has been used.
To make the sauce:
Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the scallions and cook until soft.
Blanch the peas in a pot of salted, boiling water just until tender. Use a slotted spoon to add to the scallions.
Add the melted butter, scallions, peas, and ¼ cup Parmigiano to a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Taste and season with salt as needed. Return sauce to a large, wide pan.
Meanwhile, gently cook the prosciutto in a separate pan just until the edges start to get crisp. Remove from heat and set aside.
Cook the garganelli in a large pot of salted, boiling water, until cooked, about 3-4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the garganelli to the pea sauce. Mix everything together on low heat, until all the garganelli are coated in the sauce.
Transfer to serving plates and top with prosciutto, black pepper, and remaining Parmigiano.