food for thought

i love food. i harbor an impressive body of knowledge and opinions on the subject. i am not one of those girls who views food as sustenance, or even the enemy and will only pick at dinner. food is one of my top 3 favorite things. i managed to inherit my mother's stature, sassiness and thank the lord in heaven above, her cooking talents.

dinner on this particularly comfortable saturday night? prosciutto and melon (cantaloupe) pasta. i don't even like melon. not even watermelon. isn't that just the most un-southern thing ever? i'll share the recipe with you below, or you can look it up on rachael ray's website. but beware: i rarely measure anything. it annoys me. which is why i do not bake.

ingredients for 2 large bowls of pasta and a little leftover:

-about 2/3 box of wide flat noodle pasta, such as fettucine (that i used tonight) or pappardelle (called for in the recipe).
-half a cantaloupe (we got two especially fragrant ones at our farmer's market this week), cubed
-about 1/2 pound prosciutto, cut into strips (as best as you can anyway--i had issues, but it did not take away from the integrity of the dish at all). you could sub bacon here if you wanted, but why would you want to?
-one spoonful of tomato paste. tomato sauce would do in a pinch, but not ketchup.
-heavy cream, about 1/2 cup or more to taste/desired consistency/amount.
-zest and juice of one lemon
-olive oil
-salt
-cheese--parmesan, parmigiano reggiano, whatever. this is optional

instructions: toss your pasta into salted boiling water to al dente (to the tooth, or in english, not slimy). drain, set aside. while pasta is working, heat olive oil (turn of the pan or so) on medium high heat in a large saucepan and toss in the prosciutto strips to brown, for about 5 minutes. remove and drain on a paper towel. add some more olive oil, melon and salt to taste, and cook for about 7 minutes into a nice chunky sauce. once you get this going, add the spoonful of tomato paste, lemon juice, cheese and heavy cream and stir in for a few more minutes and remove from heat. add the sauce, lemon zest and most of the prosciutto to the pasta and toss to coat. top your servings with additional prosciutto and cheese. enjoy as your guests marvel at your culinary creation that only took you about 30 minutes or so. looks fancy, tastes great, so easy.


a few menu items for the week: eggplant parmesan neopolitan, garlic lime dijon chicken, pesto grilled chicken, orange balsalmic chicken thighs with sage butter pasta, steak with peppers, and some salmon and tilapia dishes, all with veggies from the farmer's market. another one of my favorite things! oh man--just remembered i bought ground beef and a whole chicken, killed yesterday, at the market. these will have to be incorporated. mmm, fresh chicken.

oxford's mid-town farmer's market is one of my favorite things about this town. i am very interested in the politcal power structure of the food industry, buying local and helping out the farmers, and american food culture. i'd love to get really involved, actually. lots of really interesting, oppressive and outrageous things happening now to the laws that govern farmers and food. personally, this is the best-tasting chicken i've ever eaten. it doesn't taste like a bland white alternative to beef--it tastes like chicken, with its own distinct flavor. he (nameless bearded vendor of zion farms of pontotoc, ms) offers grass-fed chicken, beef and pork (and holiday turkeys!), and of course eggs, that he raises and harvests himself, hence the was-alive-yesterday chicken in my freezer begging for a juicy marinade, fresh herbs and a hot oven. i try to buy all my meat for the week from him, and will try to continue to do so even after the market season ends. then there is the brown dairy farm of oxford, with fresh grass-fed, twice-daily-milked-jersey-cow milk that is home-pasteurized. they are now offering whole milk and reduced-fat milk (they are unsure of the percentage, but i don't care), and toying with cream and butter. i can't wait for that. then there is the produce: corn, zucchini galore, tomatoes as big as softballs, okra, peaches, cantaloupes, watermelons, peppers, green beans, purple hull peas (if you like those--i don't), squash, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, garlic, et cetera, et al. i saw about 15 varieties of heirloom tomatoes today, all with descriptions of flavor, texture, color and origin, down to the family farmers! some were as big as a toddler's face, no lie. there is so much at our market. we even got a teeny tiny jalapeño.

and then there is the breakfast. the primo breakfast joint in town--bbb's. the law student's mom came in town last night for dinner, market trip and breakfast. we had the dear american airlines, law student had the pain perdue--breakfast in a cup and french toast, respectively. company is always a good excuse to enjoy the most expensive breakfast in town.

currently re-reading wicked--the back story of the wicked witch of the west. it's a great, but mature, read. the law student and i celebrated our 2nd year of holy matrimony by seeing the play at the opheum in memphis. it was pretty fantastical, and i loved galinda's role, but the story line was a bit changed. saw public enemies in the theater on thursday, which reaffirmed my major crush on johnny depp. hottest actor ever.

both of my sisters start their real-world jobs as teachers of the american youth in these next few weeks. i imagine they will begin to realize just how awesome college life is. it's not always a fun realization, but necessary. i miss college so much--i miss my friends, being able to see my friends whenever i wanted, bar hopping, no real life pressures other than not getting arrested and keeping up my grades, road trips, bookbags. but i am very proud of my sisters (all my friends, actually) and can't wait to hear about their precious students and their new life chapters.

this past weekend, dad the life professional took me and the law student to chicago. fabulous city, and we barely scratched the surface. we stayed on michigan avenue, ate some fabulous food at harry caray's and volare, i got my first designer purse, and caught a reds vs. cubs game at wrigley field. a guy i went to college with, craig tatum, got called up to the reds the week before and i got to see him catch the entire game and hang out with his fun wife daniele. dad's on a kick of seeing all the old ballparks before they disappear. he's seen shea and yankee, and wrigley was next on the list. maybe i can get him to take us to the hopefully-to-occur dodgers vs. red sox at fenway. the law student's dad is a huge red sox fan, and i went to college with jonathan papelbon, but don't know him personally or anything.

time to fold towels and read some wicked. good evening to you all!