Quick pasta in olive and herb oil with ham and Parmesan cheese

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 300 g spaghetti or macaroni
• 4 slices of cooked ham
• 10 green olives from the jar
• 2 garlic cloves
• 40 g Parmesan, freshly grated
• some thyme, fresh or dried
• some basil, fresh or dried
• some oregano, fresh or dried
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 20 minutes

with ham, olives and Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. The pasta water should taste slightly salty so the pasta retains its flavor. (Tip: Don’t add any oil to the water; the oil seals the pasta, preventing it from absorbing any flavors from sauces or herbs.) Cut the ham into strips, the olives into slices, and the garlic into wafer-thin slices. If you don’t cook very often, chop the ingredients first and then cook the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, fry the ham in olive oil until lightly browned. Don’t let the olive oil get too hot; after all, it’s supposed to flavor the pasta. Just before the ham is done, fry the olives briefly. Add the garlic and fresh herbs right at the end, tossing them briefly in the pan (important: The garlic must not brown, otherwise it will taste bitter and the herbs will lose all their flavor). Drain the pasta (it may still drip slightly) and add it immediately to the pan. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper and about 1/3 of the freshly grated Parmesan cheese to the pan. Now toss everything together well for about 1 minute and, if the pasta seems too dry, add a dash of olive oil or a knob of butter. Serve and sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese over the pasta. If you don’t like olives, you can leave them out. However, since the olives’ flavor changes when fried, this dish is the perfect introduction for olive haters. You can also use just raw ham or mix raw ham and cooked ham (to use up leftovers). Depending on your mood, I also add capers; if you like capers, you’ll love them! If you use dried herbs, add the thyme at the same time as the olives so they don’t get hard later.