Pea and ham linguine recipe

Our pea and ham linguine is comfort food at its finest and perfect if you’re looking for a new pasta recipe. Pea and ham is a classic combination and this delicious pasta really showcases how the flavours work in harmony. Fresh peas, salty ham and a creamy sauce – yum! Our pea and ham linguine recipe serves two people but it’s easy to scale up if you’re catering for more. Lots of supermarkets have started selling packets of cooked, shredded ham hock meat near the ham or in the deli aisles. If you can’t find it, you could also use some fried pancetta or even chorizo.

Ingredients

• 250g linguine
• 150g sugar snap peas, halved lengthways
• 175g frozen petis pois, defrosted
• 180g pkt ham hock meat
• 1tbsp unsalted butter
• 2tbsp crushed pistachios (optional)

For the white sauce :

• 20g butter
• 20g flour
• 250ml milk
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 60g cheddar

Method

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Meanwhile in a medium pan, gently warm butter and flour until it sticks together and becomes a roux paste. At this stage, slowly add the milk and nutmeg while continuing to stir. Watch out for lumps, now add the cheese and keep stirring on a gentle heat before turning down to the lowest setting.
2. Meanwhile cook the peas and sugar snaps for 3 minutes in the boiling pasta water then remove and set aside. Now cook the linguine in the boiling pot for 10-12 minutes until al dente. Drain all but 1/3cm of the cooking water, put back on high heat with butter, season and stir for one minute so that the pasta is hot and coated in cooking liquor.
3. Pour on the warm béchamel sauce, add the ham hock and serve in whirls by twisting around a large fork. Throw on the peas, season and add nuts for crunch on top.