Western Style Angel Hair Pasta with Cheesy Prosciutto Biscuits

Susan's recipe is submitted for the Chopped Challenge Round Two Main Dish Basket including the following items:

Theme: Italian Chuckwagon
Cowboy Style Pinto Beans
Biscuits
Angel Hair Pasta
Prosciutto
BONUS ITEM: Peperoncini Sotto Aceto

The ingredients for the main dish basket in Round Two of our Chopped Challenge were cowboy style pinto beans, angel hair pasta,prosciutto and biscuits. When I saw the list, I immediately knew what I was going to do! The mascarpone cheese in the biscuits was a happy accident. I had thought about making sour cream biscuits, but I happened to have the mascarpone in the fridge. You see, I intended to do Round One of our chopped challenge, and that was the only ingredient I had purchased. As it turned out, I wasn't able to do the challenge after all, and found myself stuck with a lonely little container of mascarpone. I had no idea what to do with it and then I had an idea...use it in my biscuits in place of the sour cream! They were fantastic! The whole meal was great. My husband said it was "off the charts good"! If you make it I hope you love it too!

Western Style Angel Hair Pasta with Cheesy Prosciutto Biscuits
by Susan Whempner

Western Style Angel Hair Pasta

inspired by Peasant Bean Sauce with Tomatoes and Sage, "Skinny Pasta" by Sue Spitler 

2 cans of cowboy style pinto beans
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup finely diced celery
16 ounce can of whole plum tomatoes (drained and chopped)
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
4 ounces prosciutto, chopped and divided (half will be for the sauce and half will be for the topping)
angel hair pasta

Drain the cowboy beans and set aside (do not rinse). In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion and celery and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beans, chopped plum tomatoes, sage, salt, pepper and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, turn the heat to medium and let reduce for about 30 minutes. While the sauce is reducing, heat the remaining teaspoon of olive oil in a skillet and add one half (two ounces) of the chopped prosciutto. Saute until crisp (watch and stir often...the prosciutto will not render fat like bacon does and it will stick if you're not careful). When nice and crispy, remove from the pan and set aside. Cook angel hair pasta according to the package directions. Right before serving, stir the second half of the chopped prosciutto right into the beans. Serve the beans over pasta and top with the crisped prosciutto.

Cheesy Prosciutto Biscuits

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon sage
3/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons cold butter
3/4 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 ounces prosciutto, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 450F. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together. Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. In a separate bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and the milk. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. If needed, add more milk, a tiny bit at a time, to get the desired dough consistency, but be careful not to add too much. It's okay if your dough is a little crumbly. Now gently fold in the cheddar cheese and prosciutto. Turn out onto a floured surface and flatten to 1 1/2 inches thick (I just used the palm of my hand but you can use a rolling pin).

Using a biscuit cutter, cut out as many biscuits as the dough will yield (you can gently gather up and flatten out the dough a couple of times to cut more). With a 3" biscuit cutter you should be able to get about 8 biscuits. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until golden.