Monday, February 2, 2009

Farfalle with Ricotta, Edamame and Prosciutto (Locavorious!)


Rena Basch is onto something. Locavorious, her frozen food CSA based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has hit the ground running, providing locals with tasty summertime edibles during the time of year when most of us are getting desperate, aching for a departure from potatoes and winter squashes. Members receive shares for the months of November through February—summer berries, peaches, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes and corn just to name a few—each food harvested at its peak and then packaged for frozen preservation.

Edamame is one of the tasty vegetables featured in the Locavorious repertoire. High in fiber and protein, this variety of soybean has plenty to offer in the nutritional department—not to mention the color and texture they add to a dish.

The Japanese like boil the pods whole in salted water and serve them as a snack or side. In this recipe, prosciutto provides a nice salty flavor which compliments both the edamame and the shrimp.


Farfalle with Ricotta, Edamame and Prosciutto

One pound box farfalle (bowtie) pasta, uncooked
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 ½ cups shelled edamame
¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
One small sweet onion, diced
Two cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
3 oz. prosciutto, thinly sliced and cut into strips
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and pepper


1. Begin the pasta: Heat a large pot of lightly salted water over high heat.

2. While water comes to a boil, combine ricotta and parmesan in a large serving bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add prosciutto to the pan and cook until slightly crispy. Remove prosciutto from pan and set aside.

4. Reduce heat to medium, add olive oil. Sauté garlic, onion and red pepper flakes for 5 minutes, stirring frequently; onions should become translucent.

5. By this time water should be boiling; add pasta to pot and cook. Meanwhile, add shrimp to the onions. Cook shrimp on both sides until they are just cooked through (bright pink, no longer translucent). Remove pan from heat and cover to keep warm. When pasta is very al dente (has lots of bite, about one minute from being perfectly cooked), add edamame into the pot along with the pasta. Bring water back to boil (about one minute more), then drain pasta and edamame.

6. Pour pasta and edamame into large serving bowl; stir to combine with cheese mixture. Add shrimp mixture, stir gently to combine.

7. Serve pasta garnished with prosciutto.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

*sigh* I'm so jealous of all you Ann Arbor people and how easy it is for you to get great local produce. I wish it would catch on the same way here.

Jen said...

This looks just gorgeous, Alex! I wish I liked edamame more, but this might just be the way to get me to eat it. ;-)