Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops

These prosciutto-inspired recipes both came from a cooking episode Giada did on the Today show.  I watched it on mute since I work from home, but went to the website for the full recipe.  Prosciutto is wonderful stuff if you want all the flavor of bacon without the fat.  Its a little hard to work with because its always sliced thin.  Its best to take it immediately from the refrigerator and try to work with it cold. Its cured so you can eat it right out of the package or it can be chopped and added to any dish.  I love the method Giada mentions on the show - baked until crispy and used as a topping in soup, salads, or pasta dishes.

Recipe Riff:
Use large scallops and they can be frozen prior but thawed before cooking.  Don't use the tiny quarter-sized scallops for this recipe.

With a knife, slice the prosciutto down the center length-wise.  A whole piece overwhelms even a large scallop.  Otherwise, follow the recipe as written.  15 min. in the oven is enough even for large scallops.

Capellini al Forno (Baked Angel Hair Pasta with Prosciutto & Smoked Mozzarella)

This was my favorite of the episode...Italian comfort food like mama used to make.  Cheesy goodness with no redeeming nutritional value.  I would recommend this as a side dish to a lovely GREEN salad instead of the main course.  It does have some "wow factor" but is a caloric splurge.  Don't skip the marinara sauce on the side, it cuts the richness of the cheese.

Recipe Riff:
I used 3/4 box of angel hair pasta and broke it in half before cooking so I could manage it better.  I only did two layers of ingredients starting with bread crumbs then pasta, prosciutto, cheese and then another layer of pasta, prosciutto, and cheese.  I topped with more breadcrumbs mixed with Parmesan and dolloped some butter around the top. 

I baked mine in a spring-form pan as the recipe indicates, but you'll want to cover the bottom in foil since the butter drips onto the oven floor and burns there smoking and smelling awful.  Lesson learned.

This recipe would be so much fun for appetizers and could easily be done in one of those mini-muffin tins with just one layer of ingredients topped with breadcrumbs.  I would break the pasta in smaller pieces before cooking.  Someone try this and tell how it worked!