Linguine with Ham & Swiss Cheese

February, full and cold, the snow accumulated to a depth that requires shoveling daily and the back porch stacked with wood right up to the railing. We are in the middle stretch of the winter now, the part where the holidays are finished and the maple sap is still six weeks off and the days are short enough that a man who lets his discipline slip in February will find himself in a difficult relationship with March. I do not let my discipline slip. I get up at five, I make the coffee, I feed the dog, I split the kindling, I check the mail at noon, I feed the stove on the four-hour rotation, I cook supper at five, I read by the woodstove at seven, I am in bed by nine. The schedule is the spine. The spine holds the body up.

Made a pot of chili Wednesday — the Vermont version, which is to say the chili of a man who has eaten a great deal of chili in his life but who is not a Texan and who therefore takes some liberties. Ground beef from Lyle's freezer, kidney beans and pinto beans both, tomato sauce, onion and garlic, chili powder and cumin and a single chipotle pepper minced fine for the smoke. Cornbread to go with it, made in the cast iron with bacon fat in the bottom of the pan, the way my father made it. The cornbread is the fixed point. The chili can vary. A man who improvises on the cornbread is not a man I want at my table.

Bill's navy bean soup arrived Thursday in a styrofoam cooler with dry ice, the quart frozen solid in a quart container, with a handwritten note in his small careful printing that said: thaw slow, gentle reheat, taste before you season, you will need salt. I followed his instructions exactly — into the refrigerator Thursday night, on the stove at low Friday afternoon, taste at four — and he was right, it needed salt, and I added it cautiously and tasted again and added more and tasted and stopped. The soup was excellent. The leek gave it a sweetness the navy bean does not produce on its own, and the ham hock he had used was clearly a good one, the broth deep and porky in the right way. I called him Friday evening to report. He said: I told you you would need salt. I said: you were right, you do not need to gloat. He laughed. We talked for an hour, the way we have talked for an hour every couple of weeks for four years now, two old men in two different states who never met in person but who correspond about beans and bread and the particular satisfactions of feeding ourselves in the deep middle of life.

Frost has been particularly close this week — he has chosen to follow me from room to room more often than usual, the small additional adherence of a dog who has decided that his person is the warmest fixed object in the house, and who has factored that into his calculations. I do not discourage him. We sit by the stove together in the evening, my book in my lap, his head on my foot, the wood crackling, the wind outside the window doing what wind does in February in Vermont, which is to make you grateful for everything you have inside.

Bill’s navy bean soup did not last the weekend — two bowls Friday, one Saturday at noon, and the container was empty by Saturday afternoon, rinsed and set to drain on the rack. The ham hock he used had put me in a frame of mind for ham, and I had a piece in the refrigerator already, left from a bone-in half I’d bought earlier in the month and portioned out. Linguine with ham and Swiss came to mind the way the right supper usually does in February: not from a recipe card but from what is already in the house and what the cold tells you to make.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz linguine
2 cups cooked ham, cubed or cut into strips
1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
Salt to taste

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook linguine according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.
Build the sauce. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant but not browned. Pour in the chicken broth and heavy cream, stirring to combine.
Season the base. Add black pepper and dry mustard to the cream mixture. Let it simmer gently for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it reduces slightly and coats the back of a spoon.
Add the ham. Stir the cubed ham into the sauce and let it warm through, about 2 minutes. Keep the heat at medium-low — you are warming, not cooking.
Melt in the cheese. Remove the skillet from direct heat and add the shredded Swiss cheese in two or three additions, stirring between each until fully melted and the sauce is smooth. If the sauce tightens up, add a splash of the reserved pasta water to loosen it.
Combine and serve. Add the drained linguine directly to the skillet and toss well to coat every strand. Taste, adjust salt, and divide into four bowls. Scatter parsley over the top if you have it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Linguine with Ham & Swiss Cheese — What You Make When the Bean Soup Is Gone