Neapolitan-style pasta

Ladies and gentlemen, as part of my diet (a varied one, in the sense that I haven’t had pasta in ages, maybe a couple of weeks ;)), I made myself some pasta today. It’s the kind of dish you make out of nothing, meaning whatever’s in the fridge (the tail end of some cold cuts) and in the pantry (where I always try to keep sun-dried tomatoes).

It’s one of those „I’d better eat something for lunch” meals, so the body doesn’t get completely confused about spending all day running on nothing but a fig smoothie without added sugar. Especially a body like mine, which is exceptionally accustomed to eating. I found a few ingredients in the fridge and, of course, I still have a whole bag of chillies, so I made it spicy. You can leave the chilli out. I think it’ll be just as good.

Why did I call this recipe Neapolitan pasta? If memory serves, Neapolitan pizza is sometimes served with ham. I used smoked ham here. And the pasta doesn’t come with a heavy sauce. To me it fits right in with the warmth of southern Italy. Don’t you think?

It turns out really tasty, and those chillies give it a lovely kick. I really do recommend it!

At a glance: 

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Serves: 2

How many calories: a few

Ingredients for a quick lunch or supper:

• 5 handfuls of pasta (I used penne)
• 10 decagrams of smoked ham (the kind you get „from the farmer” will do)
• 8 sun-dried tomatoes
• half a red pepper
• 1 fresh hot chilli
• 3 shallots
• 4 cloves of garlic
• ground black pepper
• dried herbes de Provence
• a few fresh basil leaves
• salt

Recipe for pasta that just about anyone in southern Italy could probably make:

It’s incredibly easy. Basically, you just prep the vegetables, cut up the ham and fry everything. It really is that simple. Hmm, so what did I actually do? OK, from the beginning.

First I put the pasta water on. Once it came to the boil, I salted it and cooked my pasta for 10 minutes. I chose penne, hence the 10 minutes, but you can use your favourite shape.

I cut up the ham, heated two or three tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and started frying the ham. I chopped the shallot and garlic and added them to the pan. Then I chopped half a red pepper and the chilli and added those too. I stirred it all from time to time.

Finally, into the pan went the sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips (I’d already patted them dry on a paper towel, as I always buy mine packed in olive oil).

After about 7 minutes of frying, I added the cooked, drained pasta to the pan. I added the seasonings (literally a pinch of black pepper and one tablespoon of herbes de Provence) and mixed everything thoroughly. I turned off the „flame” and tossed in a few fresh basil leaves. One more stir and there it was, my Neapolitan-style pasta. Enjoy!