Showing posts with label asparagus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asparagus. Show all posts
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Roasted Asparagus with Fried Prosciutto and Poached Egg – Never Say Never Cook Prosciutto
As many of you know, I often post these video recipes on YouTube well before I get around to writing the post, and this roasted asparagus with prosciutto and poached egg is no exception.
One advantage of this modus operandi is that the initial comments I get will often help shape the blog posts theme. This time the controversy revolved around the wisdom of cooking prosciutto. I knew this was going to come up, and even joked about it in the video (parental warning: I used the word, "ass").
Even though I acknowledged the fact that cooking prosciutto is very much frowned upon, and that this was done using scraps from the shank end of the ham, I still was viciously attacked.
First of all, there are exceptions to this no-cook rule, even in Italy. Saltimbocca is a classic dish that features veal cooked with prosciutto and sage, and Ive seen more than one Italian chef use cooked prosciutto in things like frittatas and salads.
The opponents of cooking prosciutto point to these main issues: Prosciutto gets intensely salty when cooked, it smells less than appetizing, and its basically a waste of good pork to eat it any other way than thinly sliced in its natural state.
I basically agree with all of that. Frying prosciutto isn’t a great smelling food, but the taste doesnt match this "wet pork" aroma, and is actually quite mild and pleasant to my palette. Besides, where are these people when broccoli is being cooked? That doesnt smell like freshly cut flowers either.
Yes, cooking prosciutto does make it salty, which is why I didnt use any salt in the dish. Anchovies are unbearably salty too, unless used properly. Finally, I LOVE traditional sliced prosciutto, and agree thats the best way to enjoy, but that doesnt make this wrong. I think fresh raw oysters are the best, but once in a while I want Oyster Rockefeller.
If you are skeptical, I encourage you to give this a try. I think you may be pleasantly surprised. Enjoy!
Note: Ive already done a how to poach eggs video, but its really old and crappy, and as I mention in the clip, Ill be redoing it soon, so stay tuned!
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 oz minced prosciutto (yes, you can use ham, bacon, or pancetta)
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
lemon, juice and zest
poached eggs
View the complete recipe
View the complete recipe
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Lemon Infused Gluten Free Pasta Salad with Grilled Asparagus and Herbs
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| A light, lemony vegan pasta salad. Gluten-free. |
Lemon Pasta Salad for Summer
To speak about something as prosaic as pasta salad seems downright ho-hum. I mean. It's just a pasta salad. It's something I tossed together with stuff I had on hand. I hadn't planned on it. I didn't spend days contemplating the ins and outs and quirks of gluten-free brown rice penne. In fact, if I'm being unabashedly honest here I rarely think about food at all.
Until I'm hungry.
Until those familiar, nagging pangs begin gnawing their pesky little way into my consciousness, distracting me from my preferred, visual nomenclature- which rarely includes anything edible.
I daydream about paint, the plight of bees, and Clint Mansell's score for Moon. I notice the temperature of light and the curve of negative space against a jar of old spoons. I think about expectations and illusions and perceptions. I ponder where my soul is taking me, tugging at me to pay attention to my life, inviting me through dreams and the random snippets of music or ideas or theories that skitter and skate and ripple the mental stream I wade in day after day, to consider time itself- if I believe in it- sliding by in a cool constant flow of now.
I rarely eat breakfast. I often forget lunch. And dinner time always surprises me. As if each day takes figuring out all over again how to live (to paraphrase the Deadwood Zen master David Milch).
This doesn't mean I don't appreciate good food. Or that I hate to cook (well, some days I am less than enthusiastic). I loathe junk food and processed food. I can't take credit for this- it's simply the way I'm built, the way my body so pointedly rejects any easy, packaged fix.
Even before I discovered gluten intolerance and FODMAPs I knew on some instinctual level that in order to keep this body of mine healthy and strong for the here and now I have to pay it some attention. I know I have to eat. And eat consciously.
And so I find myself rummaging in the little white painted cupboard that is my pantry.
And I find a box of brown rice penne.
In the fridge I locate a fistful of spring asparagus.
One lemon.
A few sprigs of dill, marjoram, parsley and mint.
The rest is history.
Now in my belly.
Fuel for instigating thoughts of rebirth, fragility, and the particular pink that is ranunculus.
Read more + get the recipe >>
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