Crisped Ham Alfredo
A packet of creamy pasta, fixed by frying cured ham until it shatters.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 500 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Packet alfredo pasta and sauce mix | 1 packet | any creamy packet pasta works |
|---|---|---|
| Prosciutto or other dry cured ham | 2-3 slices | shelf-stable in the sealed pack; swap for precooked bacon chips or dried sausage on longer trips |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | more than you think |
| Olive oil | 1 tsp | only if the ham is very lean |
Method
- Tear the ham into rough pieces with your fingers. Small enough to land on a forkful of pasta.
- Heat the dry pot over a high flame. Add the ham and turn the pieces with a fork for a minute or two until the edges darken. Add the oil only if nothing is rendering out.
- Tip the ham onto a lid or into your bowl and leave it alone. It crisps as it cools, not in the pan.
- Wipe the pot with the empty ham wrapper, then cook the pasta in its sauce with the water the packet calls for, roughly 500 ml.
- When the pasta is soft, lift it out with the fork into the bowl with the ham. Put the pot back on low heat and cook the leftover liquid down until it coats the spoon.
- Pour the sauce over, add the pepper, and toss until every piece is coated.
Packet pasta goes down easy and gives you nothing to chew on. The whole point of the ham is texture. Frying it dry drives the moisture off, and the crucial part is pulling it out of the pot early, because cured ham stiffens as it cools rather than in the heat.
Cook the sauce down before it meets the pasta. Packet directions run wet, and thin alfredo slides off noodles and pools at the bottom of the bowl. A minute of reduction over low heat fixes that. Cured ham keeps unopened at ambient temperature, but once the pack is open, use it that night; for anything longer than a weekend out, carry bacon chips or hard sausage instead.
Packing
The pasta packet is already a sealed unit. Slide the ham pack flat against it and keep the pepper in a small vial rather than carrying a grinder.
Variations
- Sauteed mushrooms in place of the ham makes it vegetarian, canned or dried.
- A handful of dried peas thrown in with the pasta adds colour and a little more food.
- Bread on the side stretches one packet into two servings.
https://www.advrider.com/adventure-recipe-two-ingredient-alfredo