20-minute Farfalle Pasta With Prosciutto, Broccoli And Ricotta
on May 29, 2023
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This farfalle pasta (AKA bow-tie pasta!) recipe has it all. It’s light and fresh tasting, but it’s also creamy and comforting. You could say it’s like a lighter version of carbonara. It’s particularly perfect in the spring and summer, but I’d eat it any time of year. The best part? It’s on the table in just 20 minutes!
Why you’ll love it
✔ Quick and easy. On the table in just 20 minutes – maybe even 15 once you’ve made it a few times, which makes it perfect for busy weeknights.
✔ Creamy comfort food… on the lighter side! A pasta sauce made with ricotta cheese is a healthier alternative to a traditional creamy sauce made with heavy cream.
✔ Fresh, light and tasty. You’ll love the mild creamy lemon ricotta ‘sauce’, but also the flavorful kick from the tasty prosciutto.
✔ Family-friendly elegance. You could say this is a sophisticated twist on a classic pasta carbonara. This should appeal to even the fussiest eaters. Just call it ham and cheese pasta if it’ll help them to try it!
✔ Looks great! Farfalle’s unique bow-tie (or butterfly!) shape adds charm, fun and visual appeal to the dish.
✔ It’s versatile. Serve it as an easy midweek meal for the family. For date night, or as a simple but tasty meal for guests.
✔ Super healthy veggies! Don’t love or don’t have broccoli? If it’s spring, use asparagus, or if not go for another green vegetable such as green peas instead.
About the ingredients
Pasta: I really like to use farfalle (or bow-tie pasta) for this recipe. Common in Northern Italy, it goes well with creamy sauces, holds its shape well when cooking, and looks great too, don’t you think?
But let’s be honest here, you can use any type of pasta in this recipe – even spaghetti! If the store doesn’t have any farfalle, great substitutes are rotini or fusilli (spiral-shaped pastas), casarecce or gemelli (‘twisted’ shapes) or penne (tube shaped). All of these shapes hold sauces well, just like farfalle!
Broccoli: I find ‘baby broccoli’ or ‘tender stem broccoli’ works particular well. I throw in the broccoli stems as well. Not keen on broccoli? See the list a bit further down for more green veg ideas.
A lemon: Use both the zest and the juice for the best flavor.
Parmesan cheese: I do sometimes buy parmesan ready grated to save time. Just don’t use parmesan that you find in the non-refrigerated section. Pecorino Romano or Grana Padano are great alternatives.
Prosciutto: Prosciutto is very thin slices of Italian dry-cured ham. Its rich, salty, and savory flavor adds beautiful depth to this dish. It’s usually easily found in delis, or supermarket deli or fridge sections.
Alternatively, you can use Jamón Serrano (a Spanish dry-cured ham), some really good quality cooked ham, bacon or pancetta, chopped Italian sausage or even smoked salmon for an interesting but just-as-delicious twist!
Ricotta cheese: I prefer to use ricotta with a tiny bit of texture in this creamy farfalle pasta recipe rather than the types labeled ‘smooth’. Mascarpone cheese could work well, too!
Basil: Grab a fresh bunch, preferably on the day you’re going to make this meal. It complements the other salty and savory flavors perfectly!
How to make it
There are just a few simple steps to making this delicious bow-tie pasta in just one pan (plus a saucepan for cooking the pasta!).
Firstly, prepare all of your fresh ingredients. Wash and chop the greens, grate some parmesan, zest and squeeze the lemon, and rip up the prosciutto and basil.
While the pasta is cooking, stir-fry all of the green vegetables – quickly and on a fairly high heat.
Next, add all of the other ingredients – cooked pasta, ricotta, parmesan, lemon, basil and prosciutto.
Stir well, then loosen up the sauce by adding a little reserved pasta water.
Serve immediately with more fresh basil and parmesan sprinkled on top. Don’t forget to season with pepper.
Helen’s top tips
- Put the ‘butterfly pasta’ on to boil while you’re preparing the vegetables and sauce.
- Use a big frying pan or wok style pan so that you can stir-fry the vegetables and make the whole dish in that one pan.
- Before you drain the pasta, do as the Italians do and scoop out a cup of the starchy cooking water. Stirring just a little of this into the dish will help to bind the sauce and pasta together beautifully.
- Don’t wait to serve this. It’s best served when just made when the sauce is hot, smooth and velvety.
- Don’t add any extra salt until you’ve tasted the sauce. Remember that parmesan and prosciutto already taste quite salty. You may not need to add any at all.
Variations
Mix up the greens: Not a fan of broccoli? You can use any quick-cooking green vegetable in this farfalle pasta recipe:
- asparagus, chopped into pieces
- courgette/zuchhini slices
- frozen peas! (no need to defrost, just stir fry for a minute or two)
- snow peas/mange tout/snap peas
- spinach
- green beans chopped into short lengths – either fresh or frozen
- Go wild and add a mixture of the above!
Also, you can also easily replace the prosciutto with another protein that doesn’t need much (or any) cooking. How about good quality smoked ham, lightly pan-fried chorizo, Spanish Jamón Serrano (similar to prosciutto), or even smoked salmon which of course doesn’t need to be cooked either.
If you have any leftover cooked chicken, steak or pork, these would also make a very delicious bow-tie pasta dish as well.
How to serve
As already mentioned, pasta with a ricotta sauce is one those meals that’s best served immediately. So call everyone to the table 5 minutes before it’s ready!
I think it’s a complete balanced meal in itself, so it doesn’t need anything on the side – apart from a cool, crisp glass of white wine if you like!
Got leftovers? You can reheat them gently in a big frying pan or wok, adding a bit more hot water or milk to loosen up the sauce again. Alternatively, you can eat this cold as a farfalle pasta salad. It’s so yummy that way too since the sauce is just made from ricotta!
Recipe FAQs
Farfalle pasta gets its name from the Italian word for butterflies because it looks like little fluttering butterfly wings.
If you can’t find ricotta or would rather use something else, cottage cheese makes a great replacement. It has a similar creamy, smooth texture and mild flavor. Greek yogurt would work too, as would cream cheese or even goat cheese or a creamy feta, although these all have a tangier flavor than ricotta.
Of course! Try sautéed mushrooms, peppers, or juicy cherry tomatoes. Simply cook these at the same time as the other vegetables. Or you could stir through some sundried tomatoes at the end.
More quick pasta recipes
- In the mood for vegetarian? This casarecce pasta recipe with cherry tomatoes takes literally 12 minutes to make while this creamy (no cream!) pasta and peas takes around 15. They’re the easiest quick pasta dinners ever!
- This creamy pasta with chicken and mushrooms is another 20-minute pasta dinner, and it doesn’t even contain much cream.
- Easy creamy chorizo pasta (A quick and easy ‘pink sauce pasta’, and once again you don’t need as much cream as you might think.)
- If you’ve never made a classic Italian carbonara before, you’ll be amazed how quick, easy and delicious it is (the sauce is made with just eggs – no cream!).
- 15-minute creamy pesto chicken with mushrooms and parmesan (I usually serve this with tagliatelle!)
Or take a look at all my pasta recipes.
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20-minute Farfalle Pasta With Prosciutto, Broccoli And Ricotta
Ingredients
- 4½ ounces pasta, I like bow tie (farfalle) pasta but any is fine
- 7 ounces broccoli, washed and chopped into pieces, including the stems (or use any greens: asparagus, snow peas/mange tout, frozen peas…)
- 1½ ounces prosciutto, torn into pieces (this is cured Italian ham; or use good quality ordinary ham)
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- 1 lemon, (zest of all of it, juice of half of it)
- ½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 bunch fresh basil
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook your pasta according to the cooking ingredients.4½ ounces pasta
- Meanwhile, pan fry broccoli in a wok or large frying pan for 3 or 4 minutes until lightly browned and slightly tender. Turn off the heat.7 ounces broccoli
- Drain the pasta and reserve some of the water. Add the pasta to the broccoli in the pan along with the prosciutto, ricotta, the lemon zest and juice, and most of the parmesan and basil. Stir well.1 lemon, ½ cup parmesan cheese, ½ cup ricotta cheese, 1 bunch fresh basil
- Add a little of the cooking water you reserved to loosen up the sauce and grind in some black pepper to taste. Then heat and stir for about 30 seconds or until the pasta has warmed through again.freshly ground black pepper
- Serve immediately. Top with the rest of the parmesan and basil.
This farfalle looks amazing, Helen! Such beautiful pictures. These are all my favorite ingredients, and I love how you made this tasty dish! I hope you are adjusting to the lighting, too!
Thank you so much, Gayle. They are some of my favourite ingredients, too. I will get used to the lighting soon. Well, I hope so, anyway!
So funny, reading your post all I could think was “yep, yep”! I’m Canadian and all we do is talk about the weather, and having spent a lot of time in Greece, the weather there is, well, you know how it is! It’s so difficult to take nice photos on an overcast day, it must be challenging in England!
Anyways, sounds like a delicious recipe (I posted something somewhat similar today – pasta with asparagus!).
Hello, Louisa! So nice to have someone pass by who knows exactly what I’m talking about – even in Greece, by the sounds of things! How long were you in Greece for and where were you? I was in Athens about half way between the city and the sea.
I’ve only just got to England but I’m definitely finding the the photography a bit challenging – mostly because I’m still working it out, I guess. I’ll get there!
Glad you like the recipe and going to head on over to your blog to check out yours, too!
Hi Helen, I love making Nigella Lawson’s lemony linguini, it’s a great dish. Your photos turned out really nice Helen, here in the Southwest it’s always sunny, drives me nuts sometimes.
At least when the weather’s always the same you know where you stand, though! From a photography point of view, though. I have to admit I do enjoy the change of seasons that you get in England. Ooh, I will have to check out Nigella’s lemony linguini. I love all of her recipes!
Oh yes of course, you guys have very short days and that must be a real challenge with light. I know that some have experimented with light settings that simulate real light too. In any case these pics are fab!
Thanks for saying you like the photos, Lorraine. I think there is room for improvement, but that’s OK! I think if I end up spending any considerable time here I will definitely have to get one of those artificial light set-ups, especially for the winter, like you said. At the moment it’s light until late as we’re going into summer, thankfully. 🙂
Ah, the weather! I’m still adjusting here on the east coast! Changes are so fast and you can never tell how warm or cold it is just by looking through a window. I miss that. Back home, if it’s sunny it’s warm, simple as that!
Love that pasta!! Good pics!
I had never thought of it like that, Adriana, but it’s a little similar in Greece, too. Sunny usually equals fairly warm, but not so in the UK! Thanks so much for paying me a visit and so glad you like the pasta! 🙂
I love this pasta! And I would say that the glass of wine is most definitely not optional 🙂 Asparagus, ricotta, prosciutto, and lemon sound so delicious right now mixed into some pasta! We don’t have a lot of natural light in my house, so I take all my food photos outside. I started my blog this past winter and the weather was always really nice, but lately it is starting to get so hot outside that I always end a photo shoot covered in sweat. I hope you get used to your new lighting!
Oh, I know the feeling, Isadora. That’s what it was like in Australia a few months ago. I was taking photos on a black tar floor just outside and it was so hot sometimes that I would burn my knees!
So glad you like the pasta … and I agree, you really do need the wine!
I am cracking up envisioning you running around the house with a plate of pasta chasing the light! Too funny. You always have such a knack for combining crave-worthy flavors, Helen! This pasta sounds so summery.
As for our weather talk, I’ve lived in two different climates in the US – the northeast (NJ) and the southwest (CA). The northeast had four varied seasons (from really hot to really cold) so people knew times would get “tough”. I’m still not used to the weather complaints I hear down here in San Diego, CA, where it’s warm and sunny more often than not year-round. You’ll see people in winter coats lamenting about the “cold” when it’s 60 degrees F!
California sounds a bit like Greece, Alyssa. It does get a little cold there in the winter, but for a lot of the year it’s warm and sunny. What I find funny is when people from the UK start complaining about the ‘heat’ when it’s only about 70 degrees!
Thanks so much for the lovely compliments – you’ve made my evening by saying that! 🙂
I know it’s supposed to be called farfalle, but everytime I see it I think of bow ties :P! I’m sure it’s shape holds onto a lot more of that lemon flavor 🙂
Actually, when I looked up the word earlier I found out it means ‘butterfly’, but I’ve always called them ‘bowties’, too. It’s funny how particular pasta shapes do seem to go with particular sauces, isn’t it?
Stiff upper lip, I love it! Sounds like you are an old pro, and adjusting well. Kudos to you Helen! I hope house hunting is going well, although I think I should be more worried about your light hunting! 🙂 This pasta is gorgeous, light, fresh, and plain mouthwatering! Thanks for sharing, pinned!
Thanks so much for the good wishes, Mary Frances. Actually, our house-hunting plans have been scuppered for the moment as it looks like we have to go back to Australia for a few months (can’t believe it, after that post I wrote about settling! lol!) So for the moment I’ll definitely concentrate on my light-hunting!! Glad you think the pasta is light and fresh … that’s exactly what I was aiming for!
I am loving everything about this pasta. It looks wonderful!
So glad, Pam! 🙂