Fabulous Pasta To Make When You Are Crashing Out
15-min pasta via our 1980s Italian time machine! Penne pasta, panna and prosciutto, music, and Italian femminismo
Dating someone outside your culture always brings surprises, even if you’re the same age. Core pop culture references are nearly never the same. The bonus: gaining a-whole-nother set of top songs from a shared era. Meaning: this week’s pasta recipe has a theme and a wicked musical accompaniment!
A little background: My boyfriend, Giorgio, is a born and bred Comasco, meaning he’s from the town of Como on Lake Como. His memories of the 80s in Italy are of a time of prosperity - this was before the European Union, when Italy still had the lira as currency. The Euro gave Italy and Italians the short straw, but we are time travelling to 1980s Italy so imagine a relaxed vibe and a lot of dancing in the era of teen Giorgio.
I learned this pasta recipe when I first moved to Como. Later, I learned it was quite trendy in 1980s Italy. Amore on top of amore! It’s a mere 15-minutes of effort, and while decadently sophisticated with its creamy base, is also a kid-fave. Winning on all sides! It’s also 100% in the class of salvacena - an authentic Italian dinner saver.
Random pasta side note for you 🍝: this is one of the few pasta dishes I enjoy with penne pasta. Now, I’m talking about penne pasta with ridges, not smooth (which is notorious for being the only pasta shape left on shelves in Italy during Covid lockdowns). We are not kidding around about pasta over here, people. 😉
80s Italian music, voglia, and… femminism
Let’s accompany our 80s pasta with the right song…
When I ask Giorgio which Italian song represents the 1980s to him, he makes a sly smile and purrs, “Marcella Bella”. What he means specifically is Marcella’s song, “Nell’Aria” of summer 1983. He nostalgically loves this song and describes it as utterly shocking when it came out.
It was the first time he’d ever heard a woman singing about voglia, or desire - in this cas, physical sexual wanting. And not only was she an Italian woman, but also meridionale - from southern Italy - which made it all the more surprising. PS It’s worth watching the video even with the volume off for the 80s fashion. Fantastico!!
Here’s some of the translated lyrics. Full lyrics here.
Air, I still breathe you, you know…
In the air, I chase you away, but you’re there
Desire, so much desire inside me
A fever that attacks me, I feel so terrible
Air…
In the air…
Desire for you
Aria, ti respiro ancora, sai
Nell’aria, ti scaccio, ma ci seti
Voglia, tanta voglia dentro me
Una febbre che mi assale, io mi sento così male
Aria…
Nell’aria…
Voglia di te
Marcella didn’t actually write the song. It was written by a very well-known Italian song writer, Mogol, who also wrote for the uber-famous, Lucio Battisti. However, Marcella had the courage to sing it - and how! Nell’Aria was a massive success and great for her career.
Now, your homework: play the song on repeat while you make your fabulous prosciutto e panna pasta by jumping to the recipe below - OR join me in my cultural suppositions about what led to this erotic song’s acceptance and success in early 80s Italy.
Italian femminism and music
I wondered what the social context was before and around Nell’Aria’s release, so I did a little historical digging. The “seconda ondata di femminismo”, aka the second wave of feminism in Italy, occurred between 1960-1980, expanding the debate on equal rights for women in Italian society. Some key legal changes in Italy:
1970: the law on divorce was introduced
1978: regulation on abortion introduced
1981: the law on pena mitigata per la legge sul delitto d’onore or lightened penalty for honor killings was repealed
These important topics still effect the lives of women today in Italy, although female inequality is nearly entirely ignored in recent Italian travel and expat fantasy posts.
It seems that in part, the changes in legislation, with an evolving Italian society and openness to equal rights for women, may have opened the door for this song, groundbreaking for both Marcella’s meridionale origins and also for the song’s message: I’m a woman and I’ll use my body as I want. A strong message for women on mother’s day. ❤️
1980s Italian pasta trends - still scrumptious today
On to the food that is companion to the music! This is not my first time posting about 1980s Italian pasta recipes! One of my fondest Italian pasta recipes, farfalle with salmon cream sauce, is from this decade. What do these 1980s pastas have in common? Panna aka cream.
Top tips
A special pasta: this one is so gloriously easy, takes only 15 minutes, AND I wouldn’t hesitate to serve it to guests. And if you have good quality prosciutto, the flavor can be really sophisticated. For guests, I would definitely grate in a little nutmeg (see below). Here are ways I’ve tested it and alternatives for what you like and what’s in your cucina.
Fresh vs. shelf-stable cream, or panna? I’ve tested this recipe with both fresh cream and shelf-cream and I would never say no to either way. I do prefer the lightness of fresh cream; it’s less dense with a sweeter taste. You could also easily use veggie-based cream if you can’t eat or don’t like dairy.
Prosciutto cotto is Italian ham. It’s cooked with steam. Cotto means “cooked”. This recipe calls for prosciutto cotto. It’s often a favorite of Italian kids. This is not to be confused with prosciutto crudo (pictured on the right) which is often eaten with melon in the summer. (Crudo means “raw” and is preserved by dry-curing like a salami.) The prosciutto cotto I used in the recipe is pictured below on the left and was really good quality - prepared with honey, aromatic herbs, and semi-dry Marsala wine. As the sauce is just cream and olive oil, you can taste all these notes in the sauce - it’s delicately sweet and ever-so-lightly spiced.
Nutmeg: Often, Italians add grated or ground nutmeg to this sauce. I didn’t have any today, but I’m certain it would have taken the pasta from delicious to Over The Top!
Garlic vs. onion? I often make this pasta with chopped onion instead of garlic. Add the extra virgin olive oil to the pan and sautee the chopped onions over low heat until soft and floppy, then add the prosciutto. The onions add texture and the flavor of the sauce is a little less focused on the prosciutto. The garlic method is a bit more delicate since it just flavors the sauce and then you remove it before serving. Both ways are YUM! Depends on your mood and what you have on hand.
pst! Scroll to the very bottom to download recipe pdf!
Penne Pasta with Prosciutto and Cream
Penne al prosciutto e panna
FOR 4 PEOPLE
The ingredients
6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic
200g thinly sliced prosciutto cotto / ham cut into thin strips about 3-4cm long
250ml fresh cream
400g penne with ridges
Salt to taste
Nutmeg, ground or grated to taste (optional)
Parsley, chopped, to taste (optional)
Freshly ground pepper to taste (optional)
The method
1) Fill a big tall pot with water and salt and set on high heat stove burner. Taste the water to make sure it’s salty like the sea (and add more salt if needed).
2) Add the extra-virgin olive oil to a wide saucepan/skillet on low-medium heat. Add peeled garlic and heat for a couple minutes until fragrant.
3) Meanwhile chop your prosciutto into thin strips.
4) Add prosciutto to the olive oil and garlic and stir to coat, letting it warm and melt for 3 minutes, stirring occassionally.
5) As soon as the water boils, add the penne pasta to the water and cook until recommended al dente time on the package
6) Add the cream to the prosciutto and stir, taste for salt - and add optional nutmeg or peppet if you like.
8) Strain pasta and add directly to prosciutto cream pan. Add optional chopped parsley and stir to coat the pasta
Divide your pasta into pasta bowls and top with fresh dill if you happen to have some
Notes:
Salt: It’s important not to skimp. This salt is flavoring your pasta from the inside.
Pasta: you could use almost any short pasta like fusilli or casarecce.
Cream: Fresh or UHT, see Top Tips section above!
Parmigiano reggiano: top with grated parmigiano if you like! It’s all good
Buon appetito!
x Lolly
Subscribe for more easy authentic Italian pasta recipes to make your weeknights easy and buonissimi like an Italian!
What an amazing post! Italy in the 80s was out of this world...what about cocktail di scampi? 🤣 Now you made me feel like eating penne alla vodka!
I love this! I know what I’m making next weekend…