Prosciutto and Cedar Wrapped Asparagus Bundles

Recently a great new supermarket opened up in our neighborhood, Sendik’s Food Market. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to hear that we were finally getting a great market, full of fresh produce, cheese, seafood, and bakery, among other things. So like many, I paid my first visit and was blown away by their selection. Every corner you took, they had a vendor wanting you to sample some of their great products, and one I visited was a local artisan meat place called Bolzano Artisan Meats. After viewing the products, and sampling some of their prosciutto, I asked “Where are you guys from?”. Low and behold, right here in Milwaukee, in the Riverwest area! Who knew we had this authentic place doing things the right way. The prosciutto was so delicious that I had to purchase some, and support this local shop.

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So I went home feeling excited, not just about the proscuitto, but about all of the other fresh items I had purchased, and as I looked at all of the stuff, I grew hungry and wanted to make something with the prosciutto.  At first I thought of some sort of pannini, but then I noticed some cedar wraps that I had purchased on Woot.  A perfect, and fresh idea I had was to make cedar wrapped asparagus bundles, then wrap them with the thinly sliced prosciutto. These things were not only super easy to make, but they were delicious to boot. Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 6 asparagus shoots, per bundle, cleaned and trimmed
• 1 thinly sliced piece of prosciutto, per bundle
• 1 cedar wrap, soaked in water, per bundle
• olive oil, drizzle
• salt
• cracked black pepper

Begin by soaking your cedar wraps in water, for at least 20 minutes. During this time, clean and trim your asparagus. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet, add a cedar wrap, place six pieces of asparagus onto the wrap, season with a bit of salt and pepper, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Fold over the wrap, making sure the fold is on the bottom. You could also secure the wrap if you wanted to with some cooking string. Repeat if you are making more asparagus bundles.

Cook in the oven for about 12 minutes or until the asparagus is just becoming tender. Carefully unwrap. Lay a piece of prosciutto onto a serving plate, lay the asparagus on top of the prosciutto, fold over, and drizzle with a bit more olive oil. Now dig in. Not only does this make a wonderful presentation, but you get a bit of the smokiness from the cedar wrap, and a wonderful aroma and flavor from the prosciutto. Hope you enjoy.