Penne Panna Proscuitto e Piselli (My Version)

My friends and I frequent an Italian restaurant in town called Trattoria Bella Sera; only we call it Christina's because our friend, Melissa, knows the owner and that is her name.  When I wasn't on convalescent leave (which, sadly, is over in 2 weeks), we would go there just about every week.

Everytime we go there, I always say that I'm going to try something different.  But once the waiter comes for our orders, I always end up ordering the same thing--my favorite dish, the Penne Panna Proscuitto e Piselli, which is penne pasta sauteed with Italian ham, sweet peas and onions in an Italian white cream sauce (which, to me, is Alfredo sauce). 

When I order my pasta, 9 out of 10 times I usually order something with Alfredo sauce over marinara.  I can whip up a good marinara sauce at home when I make pasta dishes, but for some reason, I've always been scared to try alfredo sauce.  And let's face it...the store-bought alfredo sauce just doesn't do it for me. 

A few days ago, I found an easy recipe for Classic Alfredo Sauce, which I used to make my favorite dish from Christina's.  The only thing is that I used farfalle (bowtie) pasta instead of penne. 

Here's the recipe for the sauce:

Classic Alfredo Sauce

6 Tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cup heavy or whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt
Generous dash white pepper
Generous dash ground nutmeg
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 oz.)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3/4 pound fettuccine, cooked and drained (again, I used farfalle)

For the dish I made, I added:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced ham
1 medium sweet onion (diced)
1-2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 cup frozen peas (thawed)

1.  In a large, heavy skillet, saute onion in olive oil until transparent.  Add garlic and saute for 1 minute more.  Add diced ham and peas.  Saute for another 2-3 minutes.  Set aside in another dish.

2.  Place butter and cream in the same skillet over medium-low heat.  Cook and stir until butter melts and mixture bubbles.  Cook and stir 2 minutes more.  Stir in salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Remove from heat.  Gradually stir in cheese until thoroughly blended and smooth.  Return briefly to heat to completely blend cheese if necessary.  Do not let sauce bubble or cheese will become lumpy and tough).  Stir in ham, peas, and onion mixture.

3.  Pour sauce over pasta in pot.  Stir and toss over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes until sauce is thickened and pasta is evenly coated.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Serve immediately.

This isn't a great picture of how the pasta turned out, but it was delicious.  My husband isn't really one for heavy pasta dishes, but he loved this dish!  And now I'm not scared to try alfredo sauce anymore!