Asparagus and Proscuitto Bundles
Today is another recipe using Aspargus. Who wouldn’t love this recipe-asparagus, proscuitto, and cheese. The recipe is very simple to make, but very elegant to look at. You trim and boil your asparagus until tender. You then take a piece of proscuitto, lay 3 asparagus spears on top, then top with Italian fontina or parmigiano-reggiano. Top with a little butter, then wrap the proscuitto tightly around the asparagus spears. Top with 2 criss-cross slices of cheese, more butter, and bake for 20 minutes.
Marcella explains that you should use a flavorful Italian fontina, and if you can’t find that you can substitute parmigiano-reggiano. She says if you do that, you should also substitute boiled unsmoked ham for the proscuitto so the dish won’t be overly salty. I did have to use parmesiano-reggiano, but I knew my proscuitto wasn’t too salty, so I used it, and boy, was it delicious. I was sorry I didn’t have any lefttovers for later, but I have no doubt that I will be making this simple but elegant side-dish again in the future.
Cindy, you did a really tip=top job of trimming the asparagus stalks, which makes the whole asparagus edible. I have known cooks who don’t think it’s necessary to take the trouble, they cook the whole asparagus, but then discard everything but the tops of the spears. What a waste! There is actually more sweet juice in the lower half of the asparagus, which only becomes edible if you trim it.