Tagliatelle with Leeks and Prosciutto, topped with Pangrattato

This is one of my family's favourite pasta dishes. It's actually adapted from Jamie Oliver's recipe.

The pasta is enhanced by a topping of pangrattato, etymology of which is from pane (bread) and grattato (grated). I read somewhere that this was the poor Italian man's substitute for parmesan cheese, which was a more expensive commodity. Pangrattato is made from dried mushroom, breadcrumbs, rosemary and garlic.  In Jamie's recipe, he uses dried porcini mushrooms, but since that is very expensive here in Singapore, I just use dried shitake mushrooms and it's fine.

The dish doesn't use as much pasta as other pasta dishes because half of it is made of leeks.



TAGLIATELLE WITH LEEKS & PROSCIUTTO, TOPPED WITH PANGRATTATO

Ingredients for the Pangrattato:
1 tablespoon oil
3 pieces dried shitake mushroom, ground
1/2 cup Japanese dried breadcrumbs
1 stem of fresh rosemary, chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt to taste

Ingredients for the Pasta:
125 grams tagliatelle noodles (I used a combination of plain and spinach flavoured; any will do)

1 bundle of leeks, chopped 1 cm"

1 head garlic, sliced
1 onion, chopped roughly
1 cup white wine
1 bundle of fresh thyme, removed from stems
1 chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon olive oil
Equivalent of 1 cup of Prosciutto ham (or bacon, if you want a cheaper alternative)

Procedure for Pangrattato:
1. Grind the dried mushroom. It's ok if it is not powder fine. Set aside.

2. In a hot pan, heat the oil and sauté the garlic and chopped, fresh rosemary until fragrant and the garlic is light brown.

3. Add the dried, ground mushroom and sauté. If the mix becomes too dry, add a little oil, but not too much that it makes the mix soggy. Saute until mushroom is light brown.

4. Add the Japanese breadcrumbs and mix well. Saute until breadcrumbs turn brown too.

5.  Season with salt. Set aside. Store extra in an airtight container. This can be used up to 3 months.

Procedure for Pasta:

1.  Saute the garlic and onion in hot oil, in a deep pot. Once the onions are translucent and the garlic is light brown, add the leeks.  Add the white wine and sauté. Cover for 1 minute.

2.  Add the thyme. Mix well.

3. Get the strips of prosciutto and put them on top of the leek mixture. Cover the pan for 30 seconds. Turn over the strips to cook the other side. Once cooked, take them out, lay them onto a chopping board and chop them into small strips.

4. After you remove the prosciutto, the leek mixture will look like this. The flavours will be infused and the leeks will be soft. Add the chicken bouillon. Make sure the mix is not dry. If it is too dry, add more wine.

5. In a separate pot, heat water into a rolling boil and cook the pasta. Once al dente, add the noodles into the leek mixture and mix well.

6. Add the chopped prosciutto. Mix well. Serve hot and topped with pangrattato.