Thanksgiving Experiment

I wanted to be a traditionalist this Thanksgiving by including sweet potatoes on the menu. However, not having been raised on the ones mashed and topped with browned marshmallows, I have to admit I can't face that dish. Just too sweet. So, when I saw on Mark Bittman's site that he wraps spears of blanched sweet potato in a blanket of prosciutto and bakes it, I thought that more savory approach might just be the ticket.

Let's just say that I love the concept but not the reality. I think I must have skipped an important step or something. Our experience was that the potatoes had an unpleasantly mealy texture, the prosciutto became leathery and the sage, which has never been my favorite herb, should perhaps have been replaced with thyme. Another time, I'd parboil the sweet potato longer and I'd cook the wrapped spears for a shorter time. Oh, and I'd switch to thyme.

Still, they have promise and I might try tweaking this idea next time I'm feeling experimental.

Stoned

For several evenings recently, we've been enjoying an appetizer of fruit and prosciutto while I make dinner. We are trying all kinds of stone fruits - peaches, nectarines, apricots - but our favorite so far is plums. The dark purple ones with the tangy skin that tickles our taste buds. When wrapped in a ribbon of prosciutto, they are a taste sensation.

If you want to totally gild that lily, drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over or dip them in it. Ooh, baby, summer's here and life is goooooood.

Appetizing

The last peach from our tree and a store-bought pear, sliced and wrapped with an interesting ham I found last time I went shopping. This ham was rubbed with rosemary, then thinly sliced, almost as thinly as the prosciutto I usually wrap around fruit in this kind of appetizer.

Simple, easy and we enjoyed the rosemary addition to an old favorite.

Fruity Hammy Yummy

Turns out that prosciutto works well with yellow peaches as well as white ones and the more traditional cantaloupe.

I added the grapes for color - they toned nicely with the ham. But, 'twas a mistake to eat the grapes first - they are so sweet, they made the very ripe peaches taste slightly bitter afterward. So, we ate the peaches and prosciutto first, then the grapes.

Problem solved.

Starting Fresh

I have always loved melon and prosciutto as a starter to a meal - the sweet honey of the melon goes so well with the mildly salty ham - but last summer I discovered that one can use other fruits to pair with prosciutto as well.

White peaches, for example.

Gently peeled, because their flesh is so tender when they are perfectly ripe, then sliced carefully away from the stone and wrapped with a see-through strip of the thinnest possible slice of pale pink prosciutto. Arrange the new moons on a pretty plate and a single perfect peach makes a great, fresh starter for two or three hungry eaters.

Jamie's Violent Video Chicken

Browsing for ideas on the Interwebs, I came across a fun little video on the NY Times Dining and Wine website of Jamie Oliver bashing the hell out of a chicken breast with the bottom of a frying pan.

Being an Oliver fan and intrigued by his violent attitude toward the seemingly blameless breast, I watched it twice and decided the recipe looked easy enough to try, bashing and all.

Cora ran for cover at the first WHUMP of the frying pan so My Beloved comforted her while I whaled away on the chicken. I can't find a link for the recipe any longer, but here's what Jamie did:

Bashed Chicken Parmesan (My title, not his)

Sprinkle a chicken breast with fresh, chopped rosemary, thyme and s&p to taste. Sprinkle with lemon zest to taste. Cover the breast with a generous handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, then lay a thin slice of prosciutto or Parma ham over it. Wrap the dressed breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound it with the bottom of a frying pan (I suppose you could use a meat mallet, but where's the fun in that?) until it is about 1/2 inch thick. This procedure sticks the cheese and herbs to the meat as well as flattening the breast so it cooks evenly.

Saute in olive oil for just a few minutes per side to keep it moist, drizzle with balsamic vinegar or fresh lemon juice and serve. A good-sized breast will feed two people.

This would be a good meal to make when you've had a frustrating day at work and a snarly commute. Bashing the chicken could save your sanity and the resulting delicious flavors will restore your sense of well-being.

Ducky Beans

While strolling the Marin farmer's market a few days ago, we visited our favorite Basque stand where they sell wonderful sausages and pate' - this time we were talked into trying some duck breast proscuitto that the proprietor had made. I was thinking of yet another way to use up some of my peaches but when I have unusual ingredients in the house they tend to spark new ideas.

I made tiny, dark purple lardons from a bit of the duck breast, rendering the fat by sauteeing before adding some fresh green beans from the garden, perhaps a day or two past perfect size, so I sliced them on the diagonal. After tossing the beans in the duck fat, I added just a tablespoon or so of water to the pan and butter steamed them in the duck "butter."

The fresh green flavor of the beans lightened the earthy darkness of the prosciutto and each made the other better, tastier, more complete.

My Beloved has a way, when he tastes something he really likes, of just meeting my eyes and then closing his - his way of signaling that he's having a near-religious experience. Language is suspended for the moment by simple savoring. I love that.

Gifts That Keep On Giving

Only the prosciutto on this plate was not a gift.

The peaches came from our wedding present tree and the plate itself was a gift from my Virginia brother and his wife, who brought it with them last Christmas.

The idea of using fruit and prosciutto together was a gift from my mother, who first tasted prosciutto and melon in Italy many years ago and told me about it; the inventiveness to try other fruits is also her gift - she was always one to experiment.

The "mmmms" and "aaaaahs" that come from serving this appetizer are also gifts of a different kind, compliments that make my head (and heart) swell. Sweet!