Risotto-Style Macaroni with Ham

📝 Ingredients

• 320 g small macaroni (coquillettes)
• 250 g button mushrooms
• 1 brown onion (about 100 g)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 chicken stock cubes + 900 ml hot water
• 6 slices of cooked ham (about 40 g each)
• 80 g grated Emmental
• 100 ml light single cream
• 10 g fresh parsley
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large sauté pan or casserole dish
• Saucepan (for the stock)
• Ladle
• Wooden spoon
• Cutting board and knife

📖 Steps

1. In a saucepan, dissolve the stock cubes in the 900 ml hot water and keep over a very low heat: hot stock is essential, as cold stock would halt the cooking of the pasta with every ladleful.
2. Peel and finely chop the onion, and chop the garlic clove. Wipe the mushrooms with damp kitchen paper (don't soak them, or they'll get waterlogged), trim off the earthy end of the stalks, then thinly slice them.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Sweat the onion for 3 min, stirring, until translucent, then add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook for 5 min over a medium-high heat until the released liquid evaporates and they turn golden.
4. Add the uncooked pasta to the pan and toast it for 2 min, stirring constantly: it should be well coated in fat and slightly glossy. This is what lets it absorb the stock without sticking.
5. Add 2 ladlefuls of hot stock and stir often over a medium heat. As soon as the liquid is almost absorbed, add another ladleful. Carry on like this for 12 to 14 min, until the pasta is tender but still slightly firm to the bite.
6. While it cooks, cut the ham slices into small dice and chop the parsley. Taste a piece of pasta regularly: if you run out of stock before the end, top up with a little hot water; if there's some left over, don't add it all.
7. Off the heat, add the diced ham, grated Emmental and light cream. Stir briskly for 1 min: the cheese melts and binds the sauce, which should coat the pasta and stay slightly runny, as it thickens as it cools.
8. Taste before adding salt (the stock, ham and cheese are already salty), season generously with pepper and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately on warm plates to enjoy it at its creamiest.