This recipe is from John's sister Vicki, pictured above. The top photo is Vicki with her husband Valerio. They live in Italy, and this photo was taken when they were visiting the States in the summer of 2010. The next photo is Vicki with Bob (John and Vicki's older brother) during that same visit.
YELLOW AND GREEN NOODLES
WITH CREAM, HAM AND MUSHROOM SAUCE
From Vicki Troyer Bernardi
You need 2 saute pans
and 2 pasta pans—4 in all
Serves 6-8
3/4 lb. crisp, white mushrooms
2 T. finely chopped shallots or
yellow onion
6 T. butter
Salt
Freshly ground pepper (six twists of
the mill)
6 oz. unsmoked ham, shredded
3/4 c. heavy cream
1/2 lb. fettuccine
1/2 lb. spinach pasta
1/2 c. Parmesan
cheese, freshly grated
Prepare mushrooms, wash and clean,
dice; set aside.
Saute w/half the butter the chopped
shallots until pale and gold in color. Add diced mushrooms and raise heat
until butter is absorbed; lower heat. Shake pan, moving and tossing the
mushrooms adding 1 t. salt and the pepper. Watch for mushroom juice to come to
the surface - this happens quickly - then turn the heat up high. Cook mushrooms for @ 3 minutes, stirring
frequently, then turn the heat to medium. Add the ham, cooking and stirring for
less than 1 minute. Next add half the heavy cream and cook long enough to
thicken slightly. Taste/correct for salt. Set aside.
In the next saute pan, melt the
other half of the butter and the cream on low heat. When melted, turn off the heat. The pasta will be added to this pan later.
Boil
both fettuccine and spinach pasta.
Spinach cooks faster than yellow pasta, so they must be boiled in
separate pots. Boil 4 qts. water, with 1 T. salt in
each pot. Drop yellow noodles in first pot and stir them.
Immediately drop spinach noodles in
second pot and stir.
Taste for doneness 5 seconds after
boiling resumes. Keep the noodles firm - they will continue softening when added to the
sauce.
Drain pasta well. Transfer spinach
pasta to the pan that's waiting with butter and cream. Immediately drain yellow noodles and
transfer to the same pan. Quickly turn
the heat on low and start tossing the noodles, coating them with the butter and
cream.
Add half the mushroom sauce, mixing
it well with the noodle strands. Then add the grated cheese and mix it well with the noodles. (Take no more than 1
minute for this). Turn off heat.
Make slight depression in center of
noodles, and pour in the rest of the mushroom sauce.
Serve immediately with grated cheese
on the side.
