Cookbook With Me #8 - Rocket Salad with Figs, Prosciutto, Walnuts, ...

A rocket bruised is a rocket that doesn't shoot well.

Rocket scientists VS Rocket cooks

It ain't just NASA scientists who work with rockets. I do too. Regularly. In fact, I eat that kind of stuff for breakfast. It's nothing to me. Just another day in the kitchen.

But they get all the limelight and applause. I don't mind, modesty is my middle name. It comes right after my first name which is Supreme and before my last name which is RocketLeader.

So let's review my last launch. I mean lunch.

Leftover Prosciutto

Rocket unbruised photoshoots much better.

I had some leftover Prosciutto (2 slices) so I made this salad. 2 slices meant half the recipe, which was good for 2 people. (Using the mathematical operation of multiplication, we can figure out that the whole recipe would require 4 slices of Prosciutto, and would serve 4 people.)

You start by slicing the Prosciutto into ribbons and then frying it and then drying it on a paper towel and then tasting the result cos you can't resist and then being very impressed and wanting to eat it all and resisting. (These steps are all covered in detail in the cookbook recipe.)

Then you make the sauce, which includes raspberry jam, vinegar, shallots, figs (I can feel you salivating), and you whisk and warm all this stuff together. You also toast the walnut separately.

Doesn't sound too hard, does it? But in fact it did take a bit longish to make. First times can often be on the long side, though. (This is my experience, though teen movies would claim otherwise.)

The resulting salad is bittersweet, a word that has only positive connotations in the culinary lexicon.

Verdict

Almost completely dressed now. Only the perm remains. I mean parm. Parmesan.

I really liked the crunch and taste of the fried Prosciutto. But it tends to get lost in the rest of the salad. Pity. I guess you could carefully layer it on top and eat it while trying not to mix it in.

The salad as a whole is good, but I've made better (and easier; and cheaper).

I guess it's good to make when you got leftover Prosciutto.