One-Pot Tortellini with Prosciutto and Peas

Half & Half dies not reduce like heavy cream, even diluted heavy cream. It also tends to curdle when an acid is added. This won't happen with the higher fat content of heavy cream. I don't know why NY Times recipe readers can't ever make a recipe as written. You know they've got a test kitchen, right? It's been worked out to be successful for you. But everyone thinks they know better.

Absolutely delicious! Made exactly as is on a Sunday night and LOVED it!

Adrianna- I haven’t made this, but my guess is that the 1 part heavy cream to 1 part chicken stock is being equated to half and half. You could probably just use half and half and then add some better than bullion or something for more flavor. I think just straight half and half (vs stock & cream) may be too bland/sweet on its own. It’s odd they used the term half and half and not have it as the ingredient used.

The "half and half" is the mixture of chicken broth and cream. The cream is reduced to a half-and-half dilution by the equal amount of broth. I hope they will address using dried pasta. Fresh pasta is rare here. Please indicate whether this will work, and how much extra simmering time and liquid would be needed.

Maybe would be better if made as written! (The original recipe sounds delicious to me, but the substitutions ... not so much.)

I'm going to try using 2 inch pieces of asparagus in place of peas (not my fav veggie!).

The introductory notes talk about "Parmesan instead of Pecorino," yet Parmesan isn't listed as an ingredient.

I'm not the expert, but I made pasta in skillets a lot in China because the water wasn't safe to consume and I didn't want to use expensive bottled water to boil pasta. In my view, this could work with dried pasta, but it'd be tricky. Fresh pasta takes just a couple minutes, while dried pasta takes much longer, so your liquid would reduce and have to be replenished. My personal recommendation would be to parboil it separately, then add to sauce. This recipe sounds a lot alla papalina sauce to me

Honestly, cooking anything in the kitchen together with friends or family sounds like a nightmare I would prefer to avoid.

Smoked paprika sounds good. Sun-dried tomatoes are sometimes suggested.

I would not use just plain "half n half" in place of the heavy cream and chicken stock unless you want your sauce to possibly "break" when simmering or curdle when adding in the lemon juice. Eww LOL

Fabulous recipe, don’t try to tweak this one. Since it’s a simple recipe, the ingredients shine, try to buy the best tortellini and prosciutto that you can find.

Just my suggestion for trying out this recipe for the first time: I am going to my local discount grocery store (Lidl's or Aldi's) to get the ingredients. Yes, they are a discount grocery store, but their private labels are pretty good quality. They have refridgerated tortellinis as well as 4oz pkgs of proscuitto, along with good prices on their heavy cream and chicken broth (even on the organic version) Another option would be to shop at a Trader Joe's but their prices may be a bit more.

Yes, just cook the veggies in some oil. You could add smoked paprika if you want, but proscuitto doesn't add a smoky flavor. You might want to up the umami by adding more shallots and/or some mushrooms to help compensate for the meat.

You could use 2 cups half and Half. I guess chef means one cup broth to one cup milk is half ratio liquid.