Marsala Pasta

I absolutely love pasta. This is a great dish, but to be quite honest, don't actually drink the Marsala wine. It looks like worchestershire sauce. And this isn't really vegetarian because of the ham, but I bet you could leave out the ham or substitute in some veggies. Like summer squash or even zucchini or tomatoes or... Well, any veggie. Chick peas???
My mom bought dry marsala.
And I used leftover ham instead of pancetta.
Crushed red pepper and thyme.
Saute ham in about 2 tablespoons of butter. I generally use olive oil and butter together but I was too lazy the other day. No worries.
Add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup marsala to the ham after it's sauteed for maybe 5 minutes. And also add in the red pepper and thyme. No salt though, the ham is salty and so is the parmesan!
Let simmer for a few minutes while the pasta cooks to al dente.
And then add about 3/4 cup to 1 cup cream. Notice that I'm slacking here. I kinda look at a recipe but didn't really follow it. I just liked the ingredients so I threw stuff together (um, FYI - it's inspired by Loni Anderson's Marsala Pasta. I will type it up one day but my mother is currently READING the cookbook. I can't take that away now, can I?).
And then add 3/4 cup of parmesan to the pan with the marsala sauce, drop in the unrinsed pasta with about 1/2 cup of pasta water (I don't like my fettucine too sticky). and this is what you have. Marsala pasta.

Now, I must say that cooking in someone else's kitchen is way too weird. I mean, I'm a REALLY messy cook and I feel like I can't really cook because I can't be too messy. Plus there's not much counterspace and I'm used to more.

But alas, I'm making excuses and I shouldn't do that.

Trust me, after we make a trip to the Farmer's Market next weekend, I'll have many more vegetarian recipes to share! And I might even post Loni's original recipe for Marsala Pasta. That's on my to-do list.