I have a soft spot for handmade books. I’ve always loved them, for as long as I can remember. I love the feel of a book that you know has been made with someone’s hands and there is something so unique and immediately appealing to me about the Short Stack Editions cookbooks because of that.
More like pamphlets, the little books fit neatly in your hands, have soft covers and hold a small selection of recipes (about 20), all sewn together with striped butcher’s twine. There are no photographs, but you get cute line drawings, cool covers, nice fonts and authors with credentials. They come in themes based on inspiring ingredients like lemons, eggs, tomatoes, brown sugar and Prosciutto di Parma.
Prosciutto di Parma is written by New York chef, Sara Jenkins, of Porchetta and Porsena fame. She, too, has a Tuscany background – she grew up in Italy and worked in Florence before opening up her restaurants. She’s written two cookbooks, Olives and Oranges and the forthcoming Four Seasons of Pasta, which was co-written with her food writer mother, Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Divided into categories, ‘thinly sliced’, ‘thick cut’, ‘fat’ and – genius – ‘the scraps’, Jenkins celebrates this full-flavoured ingredient in a variety of ways that also take it out of its usual antipasto plate.
Inspired by everything from Umbrian country cooking (not letting anything go to waste, like the prosciutto fat crusted rack of lamb) to southern US cuisine (like grits with prosciutto and gravy), Jenkins includes classic uses for prosciutto such as saltimbocca alla romana, but also adds her own flair with recipes like a Bonci-style pizza with spicy peach jam, prosciutto and burrata or cantaloupe soup with prosciutto crostini and prosciutto-wrapped persimmons.
This recipe for prosciutto with wilted greens appealed to me for its simplicity, that wonderful Italian sense of bringing the flavour out of essentially few, but good, ingredients and letting them mingle together for a delightful, versatile little lunch, snack or antipasto. It has become one of my favourite lunches – bright, juicy, garlicky spinach piled on top of grilled bread and layers of prosciutto. The trick is to let is sit for just a minute before eating so that the prosciutto warms from the cooked spinach and the fat begins to just get a little translucent and soft around the edges.
Would you like to win a copy of this pretty little book? Thanks to Short Stack Editions, I have an extra copy that I’ll send one out to one lucky reader anywhere in the world. Just leave a comment below about your favourite way to eat prosciutto by midday (that’s Italian time, GMT +2), Sunday May 17 and a winner will be announced on the blog that night!
**Update** Thanks for all your comments, folks! I absolutely loved reading about everyone’s prosciutto habits (gaining a few great dinner ideas along the way!) and can totally relate to the ones that mention eating it straight out of its paper (guilty). And now, congratulations to Chiara who just won herself a copy of this lovely cookbook!
Wilted greens with prosciutto
From Sarah Jenkins’ Prosciutto di Parma (Short Stack Editions, Vol 14)
It’s a simple dish but all about timing, as Jenkins says – you want the greens to be still hot so that they warm the prosciutto slightly and the fat begins to ever so slightly melt. I love this piled onto grilled crusty Tuscan bread like a hefty bruschetta and if I’m not using baby greens, then I blanch it first before adding to the pan – but it’s all very quick and easy. A dish to make again and again.
Serves 4
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 red onion, halved lengthwise and thinly slices
- 1 small dried hot chilli
- 8 cups mixed baby cooking greens (I used baby spinach)
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lemon, halves
- 12 very thin slices of prosciutto di Parma
In a large heavy-bottomed skillet, heat ¼ cup olive oil over low heat. Add the garlic and gently fry until lightly golden. Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften. Add the chilli, followed by the greens. Turn the heat up to medium-high and toss with tongs until the greens begin to wilt.
Remove from the heat and quickly divide the greens among four plates. Season with salt and pepper, lemon juice and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Lay the prosciutto slices over the greens in a single layer, 3 slices per plate. Serve immediately.
Disclosure: I was sent this lovely book by Short Stack Editions to review and giveaway and the views here are all my own.
Comments
Oh boy! The list of beautiful ways to eat prosciutto di Parma is endless! If cooking for loved ones, it’s lovely in a radicchio, Apple and shaved Parmesan salad with a balsamic glaze and extra urging olive oil. When just me though, I’ll eat straight from the deli paper!
Balsamic glaze with extra virgin olive oil, not extra urging olive oil! Whoops!
haha no worries, I knew what you meant! 🙂 Love the sound of pairing it with radicchio and apple!
I absolutely love prosciutto as is or wrapped around quail which is then roasted with garlic and fennel. This is a winter favourite for my husband and I.
Xx
Oh wow, that sounds amazing!
Greedily, outside in the sun, with a ripe pears and a giant hunk of pecorino romano. Perfecto. (But that dish above looks incredible!)
That does sound perfect!
I like my prosciutto cut thinly drizzled with a bit of Extra virgin olive oil on fresh Maltese Hobza(bread). Accompanied by fresh ripe tomatoes with a sprinkle of Salt being eaten by the Sea here in Malta. Bliss!
That does sound like bliss! I think I had something similar when I was in Malta many years ago!
Thanks for the comment Emiko. Hope you come down again soon and will take you on a culinary tour 🙂
What a beautiful recipe! My favorite way to eat it is finely cut and sprinkled in a lemony pasta dish with lots of Parmigiano-reggiano. Yum yum yum!
Sounds delicious!
Absolutely love it wrapped around white asparagus
Oh lovely!
A lovely little book and tasty dish!
I love to make foccacia sandwiches with Parma ham.
Cheers,
Rosa
Simple and perfect!
I like prosciutto almost every way but one of my favourite ways is with a slice of home made bread or with a margherita pizza and a glass of wine. Kisses!
Perfection!
Proscuitto wrapped figs on the grill makes my heart swoon! So does this book!
Oh mine too!
There is nothing like prosciutto with freshly toasted bread….though that one time I had it with fried dough at my cousin’s home in Felino comes in a very, very close second!
Fried dough (they call them coccoli in Florence) with prosciutto and stracchino is one of my favourites!
I like to wrap Prosciutto around freshly grilled stalks of asparagus. Super tasty!
Delicious!
I love eating prociutto wrapped asparagus, or adding it grilled to salads, but to be honest, it usually doesn’t make it that far in my kitchen. I tend to wrap it around a slice of good cheese and nibble it as a snack as soon as I get home.
Yes, it has a tendency to get eaten just peeled right out of its paper here too! 🙂
In a panino with thin bread, cheese, and a spicy aioli.
Oh have never had it with aioli but that sounds like a good combination!
My favorite is on toasted baguette that has been rubbed with raw garlic and grated manchengo cheese under the broiler for about 4 minutes. Salty goodness.
Sounds great!
Pear, Gorgonzola and prosciutto tart. Yum, now I’m hungry.
Oh now me too!
I love my prosciutto di parma sliced fresh from the leg, paper thin. I love to see the texture, the oils and softness of the prosciutto and taste every ounce of delicate flavour.
Draped over freshly formed buffalo mozzarella creamy, soft and delicious. My favourite classic combination.
Just delicious!
Ah, of course my favorite: prosciutto e melone. But recently I descovered an even better way to eat it: figs and prosciutto, just perfect.
I am a big fan of both; and ripe yellow peaches or nectarines are great too!
Handful of peppery arugula tossed lightly with a honey lemon vinegarette on a good crusty piece of bread, shaved parmigiano, toasted pinenuts, with a blanket of prosciutto. Glass of wine a must!
Cheers to that!
I love thin slices of prosciutto in risotto with greens, lemon zest and pecorino, but I’m also more than happy to eat it by itself, on toast or stirred into gently scrambled eggs.
Oh I think I know what I’ll be making for dinner tomorrow night — that risotto sounds lovely!
Sigh, where do I start? This descriptions are mouthwatering and saddening at the same time… Now that I live in Sweden and I am pregnant, chances of eating good prosciutto are practically zero. My in-laws usually make a trip to the hills near Parma every year to buy a whole prosciutto di Sant’Ilario, which is the best food a human can imagine, in my opinion. I usually have it as it is, thinly sliced, piles of it over homemade sourdough schiacciata. I am really longing for that feelong.thanks for your always beautiful posts from a usually silent reader 😉
Chiara, I feel your pain! In fact, I think I did give in to the prosciutto cravings a little when I was pregnant (couldn’t help myself)! Anyway, congratulations — you’ve won a copy of the Prosciutto di Parma cookbook! So when your in-laws bring back that whole leg of prosciutto you’ll have a good selection of recipes to wow them with!
On top of pizza. As shards on salads….
Oh yes, my husband is a big fan of freshly sliced prosciutto laid over the top of piping hot pizza too!
Eaten privately, out of the package, standing in the kitchen
hahahaha I like this!
it will have to be a slice of prosciutto on a half Charente Melon from France where I am native with a little Port. I too love handmade books and have myself made my own with recipes I have copied from website. The cover is made from Handmade paper and I stitched the paper in Japanese binding… all the best in Tuscany. Anne
How lovely. I like the sound of the port too.
Prosciutto and melon have been my favorite since having it for breakfast on the beach in Miami beach back in the 80’s. Then on my first trip to France and Italy I ate it anyway I could get it. Love simple, fresh and real food.
Simple is all you need when you have two great ingredients!
my favorite way to eat prosciutto is saltimbocca. Prepared like that, prosciutto literally “jumps into the mouth”!
A great classic for a good reason!
prosciutto and gooey cheese slice rustic bread open faced. A ham and cheese sandwich by any other name would taste as savory!
Yes to gooey cheese!
On sourdough toast topped with a poached egg, asparagus & freshly ground black pepper! Yum 🙂
Delicious!
My husband and I love to eat prosciutto for an after-work snack, but recently, I love to wrap it around dates and bake them (sometimes stuffed with goat cheese). Yum!
Katie
http://www.freckleandfair.com
Oh like devils on horseback but with prosciutto? I like the sound of that!
I love it crisped and sprinkled over an arugula, cantelope salad with fresh chèvre. Amazing!
Sounds divine!
I love it draped over a fig and rocket salad – we are picking the last of our autumn figs here in New Zealand. Straight out of the packet’s good too!
Oh lucky! Yes, I love a good fig with some prosciutto too.
I love a panino with prosciutto and mozzarella-so simple but oh so good!
Can’t go wrong!
Che gola … ho l’acquolina in bocca! Super panino with prosciutto ham, simply wonderful!
Are you still in Tuscany ?
Yes, still in Tuscany, living back here now indefinitely!
Buffalo mozzarella wrapped in proscuitto with high grade extra virgin olive oil, crusty fresh bread, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – beautiful!!
Oh yesssssss.
I love to mix goat cheese with fresh herbs, put it inside a piece of prosciutto and tie it up into a little purse with a piece of chive. Delicious!
Sounds like that’d make some very pretty party snacks!
Best way to eat prosciutto: wrapped with rockmelon! 🙂 Learned that in Japan 12 years ago and I’ve loved it ever since. PS miss you big time. xoxo
A fave of mine too – basically it’s like my staple summer dinner! 🙂 miss you so much too! xx
On a baguette with mustard and fresh greens!
Oh never tried it with mustard before!
I love to eat my mom’s homemade prosciutto rolled around her homemade crostini. I can never get enough.
I know that is after, but i love eat prosciutto as is – it’s delicious itself or with small glass good, not too oaky and not too ‘fresh’ Chianti Classico. Eventually with home made wheat bread (that killing gluten, yeah!) and olive oil. Yummy.