Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

Perfect Pairing:  Easter dinner

37 days!!  37 days until I am a married woman.  I can hardly believe the wedding is so close.  I apologize to everyone in my life who encounters me, because I seem to have forgotten how to discuss anything but the wedding.  Blogging and choreographing new Zumba routines have also moved to low priority.  Stick with me!  I will be back.  There are actually be a few food related wedding items in the works, and I plan on writing about them here.  So many fun things.

Speaking of fun things…. My bachelorette party.  Holy smokes, was that a great weekend!  I was overwhelmed when 23 beautiful ladies joined me to celebrate finding the most amazing man. 

The weekend included a fun game night (wedding themed Cards Against Humanity) with my out of town besties.

A private Zumba class with all of my favorite routines and ladies.  Before and After.

Nails!

Then an incredible cocktail party, lingerie shower, dinner, and night on the town.

Of course we had amazing food!

My incredible Maid of Honor!

This about sums it up.  My feet still hurt.

This is a cooking blog, right?  Right!  Prosciutto wrapped asparagus!!  I made these bundles for the man alongside some killer meatloaf and they were amazing. 

Asparagus is quickly blanched in boiling water and then plunged into an ice bath, then wrapped in salty prosciutto (that gets crispy in the oven) and topped with freshly grated parmesan and salt and pepper.  Yum.

These adorable bundles would be great at your Easter meal.  You can do all of the prep ahead of time and then throw them in the oven 15 minutes before the meal.

They are surprisingly good leftover.  Just put them under a low broiler until warmed and re-crisped. 

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing:  Sweet and Tangy Bean Dip

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Trail Mix Wheat Berry Salad with Chicken, Goat Cheese, and Orange Vinaigrette 

Three years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Deviled Eggs with Goat Cheese and Herbs

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Grilled Pizza with Asparagus, Caramelized Onions, Hummus and Brie

Perfect Pairing: Sabra Classic Hummus

 

Last week was our annual family vacation at the lake.  I look forward to this week all year.  One of my brothers lives in California so it is hard for all of us to be in the same place at one time.  We had an absolutely wonderful time enjoying each others company, the summer weather, lake, good food, and lots of cute kids.  I miss everyone already!

I am a big fan of unusual pizzas and flatbreads.  I have shared a few creations here…

Caramelized Onion, Fontina, and Prosciutto Flatbread

 

Shrimp and Arugula Pesto Grilled Pizza

 

Smoked Salmon Pizza

 

Even traditional pizzas can sometimes benefit from an update, like with this Prosciutto and Pineapple Grilled Pizza.

 

 

The combination of hummus, asparagus, caramelized onions, and brie on pizza may seem a little strange, but it is one of my all-time favorites.  Using hummus as the “sauce” adds a rich creaminess, and the onions add just the right amount of sweet. 

 

This pizza is great as a main course, but it is also perfect on appetizer night.  We have a lot of appetizer nights at our house.  Usually on app night we serve a dip or salsa of some kind, a salad or veggies, and a crostini.  This pizza fits right in. Add a bottle of chilled white wine and you have yourself a party. 

 

I really like to use Sabra’s Classic Hummus here.  I am not being sponsored in any way to say that, I just really like it. 

 

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Grilled Bacon Wrapped Beer Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

 

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Asparagus and Eggs

Perfect Pairing:  Peeler

Growing up we had asparagus almost every night for dinner in the spring.  It grew in a patch of garden at the very back of our yard.  I had no idea how lucky I was to be eating fresh asparagus every night! 

Asparagus is a great thing to have in a garden because it grows back so quickly.  I swear we could clean out the patch and it would be ready to harvest again in a couple of days.  I have fond memories of walking out to the back of the yard on a gorgeous spring evening with the dog to pick asparagus for dinner.

This recipe for asparagus and eggs is great for a quick brunch or even a light dinner.  It is fresh, healthy, and delicious.  Roasted asparagus is tossed in lemon juice, then topped off with parmesan shavings and a fried egg.

The Perfect Pairing for this recipe is a vegetable peeler.  It is the perfect tool to use for parmesan shavings.

 

 

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing:  Sweet Potato with Kale, Mushrooms, and Pancetta

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

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Quinoa, Shrimp, Asparagus and Goat Cheese Salad

Perfect Pairing:  Roasted Shrimp

I am a huge fan of quinoa.  If you have not tried it, you must!  It is so healthy and delicious.  I wrote about some of the health benefits and uses in my post for Spicy Quinoa, Tomato, Spinach and Chicken Sausage Soup.

I came up with this salad when I was at the grocery store with no plan.  Usually I have a plan… and a list.  Perhaps you remember my organized grocery list post.  It will change your shopping forever.  Anyway, I wanted a healthy dinner that would be easy to pull together.  I picked up some of my favorite ingredients that I thought would work well together.  Originally I wanted avocado but there were no ripe avocados that day so I went with goat cheese.  I am glad I did, I loved it in this recipe.  The end result is a healthy and satisfying salad that is great for a main dish.  I thought it was best served just slightly warm.

The Perfect Pairing for this salad is roasted shrimp.  You could buy pre-cooked shrimp but I think buying them raw and roasting them yourself improves the flavor tenfold.  The method is simple, toss the peeled and deveined raw shrimp with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roast in a 400 degree oven until just cooked through.  After I found this method I decided that I will not buy cooked shrimp again unless I am in a real bind.

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Ham, Cheese and Asparagus Croissants

Perfect Pairing:  Silicone steamer

I hope everyone enjoyed Super Bowl Sunday!  I was lucky enough to spend it with my parents and my brother's family.  The kids provided more entertainment than the game and all of the commercials combined.  They are so cute!

I got home on Saturday night from a great vacation in Cabo, Mexico.  I miss waking up to coffee with an ocean view!  Back to reality....

Everything about Ham, Cheese and Asparagus Croissants is delicious.  Just the smell of them baking is splendid.  They are so simple, require no measuring, and they are totally adaptable.  Change out the provolone cheese for cheddar, or the ham for turkey, eliminate the Dijon mustard or spread on some fancy mustard you have hanging out in the fridge.  You can’t mess them up.

The Perfect Pairing for these roll ups is a silicone steamer to cook the asparagus.  The steamer sits inside a pot over a little bit of water.  All of the asparagus sits on top of the steamer and is perfectly steamed in minutes.  I use my steamer for all kinds of vegetables.  It is easy to clean and store.  Awesome kitchen tool.

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