Bits and Pieces

Tonight was G&T (gin and tonic) night on the porch. We felt like cold drinks and a hot meal, but since it had been a warm day, we didn't want to heat up the kitchen too much. I had just the right recipe.

Last year, the New York Times published the quickie dinner list to end all quickie dinner lists: "Summer Express: 100 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes" by Mark "the Minimalist" Bittman. It's available here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dining/18mini.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. If you can't access the entire article for free (which I seem to be able to do just by being a registered user), it's worth the price of a download ($3.95, I think).

Bittman had just the thing (#14 on his list of 101 dinners) for using up the rest of the prosciutto we had in the refrigerator (from those canapes we made). One warning though: Do NOT add any salt to this dish. Really. I'm not kidding.

Prosciutto Pasta
Serves 2

4 ounces of dried pasta (such as spaghetti or linguini)
3-4 slices prosciutto, chopped
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 to 3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 to 1/2 cup of bread crumbs (ours was with Italian seasonings)Pinch of red chili flakes
1/2 tablespoon of chopped flat leaf italian parsley (you can substitute dried parsley, but fresh is better)

Directions
1. Add pasta to a large pot of boiling water and let cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, add prosciutto , olive oil, garlic, and butter to a skillet over medium heat.
3. A minute later, toss in the bread crumbs and red chili flakes to taste (they're hot!!!). Mix together.
4. When pasta is finished, drain.
5. Serve prosciutto-bread crumb mixture over pasta with chopped parsley.

Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:

EXTRA! EXTRA! I'm so excited: I have some great plans for the Home Ec-o blog this weekend. I'm introducing a new feature: E-Co$t. That's right, in addition to calculating the nutritional values of each dish (I'll be updating that data for this week's recipes), we're tallying how much each meal costs too.