By Mark Bittman
- Total Time
- About 30 minutes
- Rating
- 5(566)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This pasta dish, known as maccheroni alla San Giovanniello in Italy, is amazing in the summer months, when there are good fresh tomatoes around. But you can make it any time of year with canned tomatoes. You could also make it with much less prosciutto, really just enough to season the oil — a quarter cup or so. No matter how much you use, start with a hunk of prosciutto so you can dice chunks; you don’t want little thin slices. If you've got great basil, you can even skip the cheese. If you use fresh tomatoes, you can blanch and peel the tomatoes if you don't like the skins, but it's not really necessary.
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- ⅓cup olive oil or butter
- 10cloves garlic, lightly crushed
- ½cup prosciutto or other salted ham or slab bacon, cut into cubes or strips
- 6plum tomatoes, or 1½ cups drained canned tomatoes
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1pound cut pasta, such as ziti or penne
- 1cup roughly chopped fresh basil leaves
- 1cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese, or a combination
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
785 calories; 31 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 17 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 95 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 32 grams protein; 1156 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Preparation
Step
1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Step
2
Combine the oil, garlic, and ham in a medium to large skillet over medium-low heat. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until the garlic becomes deep golden, nearly brown, all over, 10 to 15 minutes.
Step
3
Core and chop the plum tomatoes (or crush the canned tomatoes) and add them, along with salt and pepper, to the skillet. Stir and simmer while you salt the boiling water and cook the pasta.
Step
4
Drain the pasta when it is tender but firm, reserving a little of the cooking water and adding it to the sauce if it appears dry (quite likely if you used fresh tomatoes). Toss the pasta with the sauce and most of the basil, along with the cheese. Mince the remaining basil, garnish the pasta with it, and serve.
Ratings
5
out of 5
566
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Cooking Notes
Curt
Can't really go wrong with these flavors. Didn't have prosciutto, so I used pancetta. Browned it a bit before lowering the heat and proceeding with step 2. Worked out great! Other notes:
1) Tried shaking the garlic cloves in a closed jar to get the peels off--
worked surprisingly well.
2) Threw in red pepper flakes just before adding tomatoes. I think a little heat goes a long way here.
3) Didn't add any salt (other than to pasta water); cheese and ham had enough.
Great dish!
Sooz
Very good. I used the best olive oil I had on hand, and canned San Marzano tomatoes. Got some very thick slices of prosciutto that I chopped into a small dice. Let the garlic & ham cook low & slow about 20 minutes. Looking forward to trying this again in late summer, when home-grown tomatoes are available, and the garlic from my garden is ready.
Heather
This was delicious! I also added hot pepper flakes as mentioned in a previous comment, and it gave the dish a very nice heat. I would say you can definitely decrease the amount of prosciutto used and even maybe an extra tomato if you're using fresh.
Rachel
I did pretty much everything Curt did and the dish turned out amazing! I also used some fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden and they were delectable (I would suggest just cutting them and leaving the seeds/juice, as it keeps the sauce from getting too dry). The cubes of pancetta were delicious and not overly salty, and the lack of extra salt allowed the tomatoes and basil to shine. One of my favorite dishes I've found on the site!
shore cook
Such a flavorful dish and so easy to change up for variety. I added some loose spicy italian sausage and a handful of fresh chopped oregano to kick it up a notch. Added a splash of white wine and a few ounces of chicken broth. With the addition of the grated cheese at the end, it all became a creamy, flavorful sauce. Mark Bittman has yet another winning recipe, one I will be making again!
BigBen
Take that ENTIRE finished pan and put slices of bufala mozzarella on it -- broil for 2 minutes -- put the WHOLE PAN on the table and spoon into that crusty cheesy italian goodness!
SaratogaTB
Red pepper flakes!
Michele
Fantastic recipe. The ingredients are so simple and basic, and you can make this one in less than an hour, but the flavors have a lot of depth and barely need seasoning. I used a 20 oz can of whole tomatoes (drained) and the only minor tweak I made was to add a little white wine to the sauce when simmering to balance the oil, as there was a fair amount and I was apprehensive about it being too oily as a sauce. It was a hit and will definitely make again.
JL
Use less pasta, more tomato. More garlic cook garlic less than recommended time.
CJ
This was a great summer pasta. I used fresh cherry tomatoes and broke up some buratta cheese on the top before serving which really added to the overall dish. Also added red pepper flakes to the garlic oil. Will make this one again for sure
JL
Proves my belief that there’s no such thing as too much garlic. Next time— and there will be a next time— I’ll add a bit more tomato. Other than that, pure perfection!
sisan
Very good make it again
Paul Z
Made again tonight (forgot I'd made it with duck...). Perhaps speck might be better than prosciutto (heresy of heresies!) as it's less salty.
Claire K
Used vegan butter and prosciutto. Didn’t add any salt beside the salt in the pasta water. Used a 14.5 oz can of whole tomatoes. I prefer more tomatoes, so next time I would probably double the tomatoes.
Paul Z
So...used Pomi chopped tomatoes, garlic from my garden, and since I didn't have any prosciutto or other ham also some duck. (Yes, duck.) Pretty tasty. You could probably omit the protein and only do the garlic, or even go with some anchovies. This is a versatile recipe!
SaratogaTB
One commenter said that the pancetta fat and oil should be drained before adding tomatoes. Recipe doesn’t say to do that. Thoughts? This is an amazing recipe and will be a regular with us. Don’t know how you don’t add red pepper flakes with the garlic.
LeenieLoo
This was easy and delicious. I used some really sweet cherry tomatoes, at least 1C of prosciutto cut 1/8” thick and used home made fettuccini. Only thing I should have added was red pepper flakes because we prefer a little heat. I will definitely make this again!!
Terry
I made this last night and because the recipe is so simple, I didn't have high expectations. Was I surprised! It was absolutely delicious! I used fresh plum tomatoes, reggiano parmesan, and a little less basil than called for (our garden basil is pretty strong). Simple recipe. Outstanding results.
Maddie
This recipe is as gorgeous as it is delicious. I added the recommended red pepper flakes from the reviews before, and it contributes a perfect amount of heat. I also used San Marzano canned tomatoes, and didn’t drain them. Make this for dinner, TONIGHT.
elizabeth
I made this in a vacation rental kitchen—a new setup without my usual equipment—and it was a hit. I had a sizable heel of prosciutto and ended up cutting the chunks a little too large. Next time I’ll go for more of a large dice. It was like an 0.5 lb. chunk. An 0.25 lb. chunk would have been fine. Using fresh heirloom tomatoes is no problem, and I cooked them down more than the recipe calls for to thicken up the sauce and concentrate the flavor.
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