Make it at Home: Il Gottino’s Pesto di Parma Prosciutto

I stumbled on a brilliant idea via Il Gottino’s blog, courtesy of Chef Jodi Williams: create a “pesto” of ground prosciutto, Parmesan and fresh sage.

The blog doesn’t offer a recipe, but a little tinkering uncovered a successful mixture:

1. Put the following in your food processor:  1/2 lb prosciuto, scant 1/4 cup crumbled parmesan, 8 sage leaves, a drizzle of olive oil, and a small handful of toasted pine nuts.

2. Pulse a few times until blended.

3. Luxuriate.

Spread on crostini and drizzle with more olive oil and your best balsamic vinegar.  Alternately, use the spread to stuff cherry tomatoes or top fresh figs or melon chunks.  (I used dates in the picture above but would have preferred figs.)

If you have any left over – which is highly unlikely – toss it with whole wheat pasta, fresh tomatoes and roasted asparagus.