I’m PROsciutto

If I were to eat just one type of cuisine for the rest of my life, it would most certainly be Italian. Hardly a day goes by where I am not scarfing down pizza or pasta; really, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch. A carb-free diet? Forgettaboutit.

I woke up this morning and just needed to rave about Italian food, specifically proscuitto. Proscuitto is Italian ham that died and went to heaven… and then came back down and landed on my fork. Prosciutto is commonly served raw, a.k.a. prosciutto crudo. There are a variety of ways to make prosciutto, but I gather the basic process is taking the hind quarters from a pig, trimming it of skin and fat, salting it, allowing it to air cure, greasing it with salted lard, and then letting it cure again for 1-2 years. Different regions in Italy will add other spices to the process like garlic or pepper too, it really just depends on where it’s from. Generally, the longer it’s cured the more it costs. It’s such a wonderful, savory treat many just eat it plain, or with mozzerella or melon.

This morning, while driving to work, I had this brilliant idea to stop at Trader Joe’s and see what I could grab for lunch. (Did you know they open at 8am daily? Score!) Anyway, I was headed toward their meat section when something caught my eye: fresh pasta of course! Perline pasta and prosciutto for $2.99!! (That completely merits double exclamation points.) So, for lunch, I made this little gem and added a splash of roasted garlic marinara. It was pretty good. It’s not like eating fresh prosciutto, but the smooth meat-filled pasta was a wonderful treat for a Friday.