Not Spaghetti and Still Okay

Usually when I make pasta that is any other shape, James gently mentions how he really likes spaghetti best. Not linguine, not capellini, but plain old spaghetti. But, every now and then I am seduced by fanciful shapes at the store and end up with a pantry shelf of lesser favorites.

I decided to start working off that shelf and grabbed a bag of trofie, squiggly little shapes usually served with a hearty pesto that are a specialty of the Italian region of Liguria.

To my surprise all I heard was "this is really good."

And it was so easy. All I did as crisp slices of prosciutto in some olive oil and toss in a few thinly sliced shallots (well, I used baby red onions form our garden), garlic, and crushed red chiles. When the pasta was cooked I put it it back in the pot and added in the prosciutto mixture, a out 3/4 cup of fresh ricotta, about 2 cups of fresh arugula, a good handful of grated parmesan, about 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water and stirred until the ingredients came together into a creamy sauce.

Easy and delicious.