Giada De Laurentiis Just Added One Of Her Favorite Flavor Combos To A Pasta Dish

Giada De Laurentiis has a repository of pasta recipes and Italian dishes she can whip up in a New York minute or share with her fan base. We love her Mortadella Pistachio Meatball sliders, which are a nod to her favorite dish from "Bobby and Giada in Italy." And De Laurentiis certainly knows how to take cauliflower to the next level (via Instagram) or what sauce will go great with salmon (via Giadzy). Now, it's the "Giada at Home" host's addition of a classic duo to her pasta dish that has our tongues wagging. This is just the dish we need to celebrate spring and we love that it's a family recipe she is putting her own mark on.

Fans of the California-based celebrity chef may know that she got her start thanks to her famous grandfather, Dino De Laurentiis. Dino De Laurentiis was a movie producer on films like "Blue Velvet," "Dune," and "Barbarella" (via IMDb). According to Time, he also had a love for the Italian food he grew up with. He loved to cook and the family recipes landed De Laurentiis a feature story in Food & Wine early in her career. So, it should come as no surprise that De Laurentiis is adding her favorite flavor combo to one of her grandfather's pasta recipes.

Giada De Laurentiis affectionately details on her Giadzy website that her grandfather, "Nonno Dino," would make a simple aglio e olio pasta dish with olive oil and garlic when he was in Capri. The "Everyday Italian" host has her own riff on the dish with the addition of two flavors she has an affinity for — peas and prosciutto. If memories of your own childhood are flooding your mind, we're with you. The thought of that savory prosciutto with crisp, sweet peas makes our mouths water.  

As Simply Recipes notes, peas and ham are a great combination that works well together. We love it in our honey-baked ham split pea soup recipe and in dishes like risotto. It's both comforting and delicious, and also a great way to get your kids to eat veggies. De Laurentiis's take on her grandfather's recipe really amps the flavor without being overwhelming or complicated and takes just 25 minutes to create a meal that is packed full of flavor.