crispy asparagus straws

I was able to stop by Trader Joe's over the weekend after dropping off my dog for a bath. I miss Trader Joe's, which I used to be able to shop at whenever I wanted. In fact, my apartment back in college used to be within a few miles from five supermarkets; everything you could ever want, from high end (Whole Foods)to low (Trader Joe's). Now, I'm lucky even if I happen to be in an area with a market other than Albertsons. It's hard to find more specialty items for things I want to make, but that's a whole other discussion.

Back to asparagus. I followed the ingredients in this recipe pretty much to the t, which made sense since everything it called for was relatively common. Started with steamed asparagus, just a few minutes to keep its crunch. FYI: when prepping asparagus, you want to hold the ends of the spear and bend to a snap; where it breaks is the natural spot to remove the fibrous woody ends. If your lucky with really fresh asparagus, the amount of ends removed will be short (I had a few where it took off almost half of the spear).

With the asparagus prepped, all that was needed was to roll it up in phyllo dough. Reminder: keep the delicate phyllo from drying out by placing a slightly damp towel over the unused portion. I didn't have quite enough prosciutto, since I used it in the prosciutto tea sandwiches, so I cut the pieces a bit smaller than the recipe called for.

The phyllo ended up crisping very nicely, and the prosciutto added a much needed saltiness, since the asparagus was unseasoned. I barely made a dent in the box of phyllo dough with this recipe. I must find more applications, but thank goodness they keep in the freezer in the mean time.

prosciutto tea sandwich

Sandwiches are awesome for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner. I grew up bringing packed lunches to school, and a standard ham and egg sandwich was a regular in my brown paper bag. It was one of the few more American lunches my Mom would make.

These small bites were based on the "Serrano Ham Tea Sandwiches." I couldn't find serrano ham at my local market, so I substituted prosciutto, which is similar in the sense that it is sliced paper thin and salt cured. I used store bought wheat and white bread for assembly. I don't own a flower cookie cutter, so I just used a standard circle in its place; not quite as cute, but worked none the less.

I prepared these in the afternoon and just stuck them in the fridge until ready to serve. I liked them lightly toasted, just enough to warm the prosciutto and slightly melt the cheese. I had a bunch of extra ones, which became snacks for my friends. Overall consensus? A fancier take on a simple ham and cheese.