Sunday, October 26, 2008
Food, Recipes

Shrimp on the Parma

Make prosciutto-wrapped grilled shrimp

Photos/Melissa Libby & Associates

By Marty Eberly

One of our guests’ favorite antipastos would have to be our grilled prosciutto-wrapped shrimp with braised garbanzo beans and a blueberry butter sauce. The dish’s ingredients all play off each other’s flavors, one being as important as the other.

Prosciutto should be sliced thin enough to see light throughout the cut. Be sure your deli associate slices it thin or it’s not worth eating. I have a favorite quote from Mario Batali, in “Molto Italiano,” where he writes: "In my dream world, everyone has an industrial deli slicer at home and spends half the day slicing prosciutto for their friends."

Prosciutto, Italian for ham, is one of the best treats coming out of Italy. In America, the word is almost always used for an aged, dry-cured, Italian ham that is sliced thin and served without cooking. In Italy, however, it's paramount to distinguish between "prosciutto crudo" (raw) and "prosciutto cotto" (cooked, which instead identifies the wet cured ham). The most renowned and pricy legs of prosciutto come from central and northern Italy. For Portofino, I buy prosciutto from Parma.

The meat takes nine to 18 months to cure, depending on the size of the ham. The ham is first cleaned, salted and left for about two months. During this time, the ham is pressed, gradually and carefully to avoid breaking the bone, to drain all blood left in the meat. It is washed several times to remove the salt, and hung in a shady, airy place. In some places—like the Alto-Adige region—the ham is smoked by burning different types of wood that give the prosciutto a smoky flavor, or it’s hung in a fireplace chimney (this type of ham is often called “speck”). The surrounding air is important to the final quality of the ham; the best results are obtained in a cold climate. The amount of time it takes for the ham to dry varies, depending on the local climate and size of the ham. When the ham is completely dry, it’s hung in an airy place, either at room temperature or in a controlled environment. In Italian, "prosciutto" refers to the pork cut, not to its specific preparation.

There are two famous types of Italian prosciutto crudo exported abroad: prosciutto di Parma, from Parma, my choice at Portofino, and the best in Italy, and prosciutto di San Daniele, from the San Daniele del Friuli area, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. The prosciutto di Parma has a slightly nutty flavor from the Parmigiano Reggiano whey that’s sometimes added to the pigs' diet. Some farmers feed their hogs the same cheese that’s put on the farmer’s dinner table … spoiled little piggies! The prosciutto di San Daniele, on the other hand, is darker in color and sweeter in flavor.

At Portofino, the grilled shrimp that the prosciutto is wrapped around are positioned on a small mound of braised garbanzo beans that have soaked in water overnight and are then braised in fresh tomatoes, white wine, fresh herbs and Parmesan rinds. Add salt to the beans last, if needed. A tip from Portofino’s kitchen: A few strips of prosciutto fat are added for salt and flavor.
I finish this dish off with a white wine butter sauce and a blueberry coulis. Try different fruits with different wines, or change up the beans a bit, or serve the shrimp with fried hominy. Good food and wine start with the best ingredients and a little imagination. Bon appetito! SP
Marty Eberly is the executive chef at Portofino Bistro. 3199 Paces Ferry Place NW. 404-231-1136. www.portofinobistro.com.

PROSCIUTTO-WRAPPED GRILLED SHRIMP

Ingredients:

• 4 to 5 large raw shrimp
• ¼ lb. prosciutto
• 2 cups dried chickpeas (soaked overnight)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons basil, chopped
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 cups tomato, chopped
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1 and ½ cups water
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Cornstarch, optional

Instructions:

First, peel the raw shrimp, leaving the tails, and de-vein by running a small knife down the curl of the shrimp (make this cut shallow and remove the mud vein). Wash the shrimp in cold water, lay four or five on a cutting board, and wrap thinly sliced prosciutto around the shrimp one at a time. Using a bamboo skewer, line four or five shrimp up, and run through the centers of the shrimp. Now you’re ready for the grill. Pepper the shrimp, and grill them on a medium flame for about six minutes on each side.

In the meantime, sauté two cups of dried chickpeas (soak overnight first) in olive oil with six whole cloves of garlic and one shallot chopped fine, black pepper and about two tablespoons chopped fresh basil and parsley, five sprigs of fresh thyme and four whole bay leaves. Add one cup of white wine, after the shallots start to brown, along with drained beans. Add two cups chopped fresh tomato, cover and simmer slowly for about three to four hours. Add salt last if needed, and top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Finish this dish off with a white wine butter sauce and a blueberry coulis. The
blueberry coulis is made by taking a pint of fresh blueberries, a cup and a half of water, ¾ cup of sugar and about a half cup of white wine. Allow to simmer for about an hour or until the berries begin to fall apart. Then blend on high in a blender and strain. You may need to add a touch of cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Add a tablespoon of butter at the end to smooth it out.