Peas and Prosciutto

I rarely cook with prosciutto – but this is a special delight. You can do it with fresh peas but I can’t remember the last time I did, and you have to spend some time cooking them just right before this recipe begins. I normally use frozen. You can do this with bacon or any meat, really, but there’s nothing like a sprinkling of prosciutto in a bowl of peas. The trick is to not have long strings of prosciutto laced throughout, but to have each byte contain the same ratio of peas to prosciutto. To prepare it, you might want to have them slice the prosciutto a hair thicker than normal.

Ingredients:

• ¼ pound prosciutto
• 12 oz frozen peas
• 2 TBS butter
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

Slice the prosciutto into ½ squares and set aside.

Place a few tsp of water in the bottom of a sauce pan and bring to a rapid boil. Add the frozen peas, toss and cook for a minute or two until they are very hot throughout but still bright green – not wrinkled and olive colored. Drain any excess water, return to the pot and add the butter, salt, and pepper. Melt the butter into the peas over low heat, stirring briskly but without popping any peas. When the butter is almost entirely melted, add the prosciutto, stirring to break up the squares. Serve and enjoy.