Category Archives: Meat

Meat, Pork, Tips, Vegetables

Those Prosciutto Asparagus Bundles—Some Tips

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Blog posts for bundles of asparagus wrapped in prosciutto are ubiquitous. Some are roasted until the prosciutto is crispy and some are wrapped at the last minute, after only the asparagus are cooked. I’ve even seen some that have cheese either under or on top of the prosciutto. Whatever kind you’re looking for, here are a few tips to save you some headaches:

  1. Precook the asparagus before roasting. Just a 2-3 minute simmer will cook the asparagus enough that it won’t be tough after a short time in the oven to crisp up the whole bundle. I don’t think I would use the very fat stalks, but if you have to, you should probably peel them before simmering.
  2. If like the prosciutto I always find, yours tears into pieces just trying to separate them—even when they have paper or plastic between the slices—don’t panic. Prosciutto pieces will stick to themselves and you can easily piece them together. Every single one of my slices tore into three identical pieces, one small square, one long straggly strip, and one nice looking rectangle that was large enough to go around the bundle itself. So I put the ugly duckling pieces on the inside and wrapped the big rectangle around the whole thing. No one would be the wiser, if I actually had company, instead of being in self-quarantine with just my husband.

I brushed mine with olive oil and roasted them at 400º for about 20 minutes.

Asian, Beef, Bread, Cakes, Casseroles, Dessert, Eating, Meat, Vegetables

Still Eating, If Not Writing

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What’s been for dinner lately:

Sheet pan pizza with prosciutto, Parmesan, and white sauce. The crust is from America’s Test Kitchen’s “Pizza al Taglio with Arugula and Mozzarella,” but I baked it with a Parmesan/garlic white sauce, fresh mozzarella, baby spinach, and prosciutto. [There’s a paywall on this site.]

Beef stir fry. This is just a version of the one I make on the grill in the summer, with more veggies. I used some steamed frozen broccoli to avoid the longer cooking that fresh broccoli requires.

Rigatoni and butternut squash casserole with pancetta and Parmesan. Just like the one I’ve made before with bacon, but I find the pancetta to be milder and less overpowering than the bacon.

Boston Cream Pie—made this for my husband’s birthday. Specifically the Wicked Good Boston Cream Pie from America’s Test Kitchen. One word of caution: The written recipe omits the most important line from the video. When making the pastry cream, you don’t stop when bubbles break the surface; you continue whisking until the whisk leaves a trail in the bottom of the pan, sort of like when making jam. Otherwise the pastry cream will be runny. It’s a delightful cake. [There’s a paywall on this site.]

Cheese, Eggs, Low carb, Seafood

Creamy Walleye Scramble, For One

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I may never eat scrambled eggs again without cream cheese!

Even though the fillets were small at less than 3 oz, each, two were too many for me, and three eggs was too much. Still, I persevered 😉

Creamy Walleye Scramble

  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • Walleye fillets—my fish, including both fillets, was 5.5 oz. 3-4 oz might be a more typical single serving.
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
  • butter and olive oil for sauteing
  • salt & pepper
  • optional: fresh or dried herbs, like dill or chives

Preparation

  1. I’m using two of my favorite pans for this dish—stainless steel for cooking and browning the fish and nonstick for making the omelet. That poor nonstick pan has suffered abuse and will need to be replaced soon ☹️
  2. Begin by cooking the fish.
    1. Heat a stainless steel or cast iron pan, because you want some nice browning, over medium-high heat.
    2. Add 2 tablespoons butter or a combination of butter and oil, and as soon as the butter has melted, place the seasoned fillets in and saute for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Turn the fillets and cook the other side.
    3. Set aside while making the eggs. You could loosely cover the fish in the pan with foil, but do not put a lid on and let it steam and get all watery.
  3. To make the eggs:
    1. Whisk 3 eggs in a medium bowl. Don’t be like me and try to pick the smallest bowl possible, so that your egg splashes over the sides.
    2. Whisk in the cream cheese until mostly incorporated. It really doesn’t matter if there are little bits left in it, because they will melt in the cooking.
    3. Heat a nonstick pan over medium to medium-high heat. When hot add 2 tablespoons butter (and a few drops of oil to prevent burning). Add the eggs and let them set for a few seconds. Season with salt and pepper and herbs, if using. Begin to lightly stir and fold with silicone spatula, just to move them around and prevent browning.
    4. Crumble in half your fish, continuing to stir and fold. Remove from heat while the eggs are still moist.
    5. Plate the eggs and crumble the rest of the fish over the top.