Ham and mushroom tagliatelle

Boil a pan of water, lightly salted. Then add the dried tagliatelle and cook for 12 minutes. Once fully cooked, drain the pasta then rinse under cold water. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the diced onions and crushed garlic. Fry for 6 minutes over a medium heat, or until the onions have softened. Then add the diced mushrooms and fry on a low heat until the mushrooms have softened. Stir in the ham and the crushed peppercorns.

Add the cornflour to the milk and, once fully combined, add to the saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir continuously until the sauce has thickened.

Add the cooked tagliatelle to the saucepan, then mix well to combine and ensure the pasta is fully coated in the sauce. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes to allow the pasta to warm through.

Serve in pasta bowls and garnish with grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley to taste, with a side of garlic bread.

Tips & tricks

This ham and mushroom tagliatelle without cream is a really simple recipe to follow. First, you want to ensure that you cook the pasta to perfection. Always check the instructions on the back of the packet, and keep a close eye on the pasta towards the end of the cooking time. As suggested in the recipe above, rinsing the pasta with cold water once it’s drained helps stop the cooking process, avoiding oversoftening, whilst you make your sauce. If you prefer, you can make fresh pasta instead of using dry and we have a helpful article here on how to make your own pasta at home.

It’s key to crush the peppercorns to release the flavor in cooking. It’s best to do this with a pestle and mortar, but if you don’t have one of these to hand, popping the peppercorns into a plastic bag and then crushing with a rolling pin will do the job. The aim is to have them cracked open, but not too finely crushed.

Variations

One of the most popular variations of this dish is ham and mushroom tagliatelle with cream. If you wish to make this version, you can swap in 3.4 oz/100ml cream for the same of milk or even stir in a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese for a creamier finish.

Some chefs also like to use bacon instead of ham. The bacon simply needs to be cooked ahead of time so it’s ready for adding to the sauce in the recipe above. For the mushrooms, we like using button mushrooms as they’re readily available and ideal for chopping into quarters, but you can change the type of mushroom used to add different flavors. Read our handy article about 15 different types of mushrooms and experiment with all shapes, sizes and tastes.

Storage

You can keep leftovers in the fridge for up to three days, as long as they’re stored correctly in an airtight container and refrigerated as soon as they’ve cooled. You can also freeze the sauce separately for up to three months.