Spaghetti with Cabbage, Heirloom Tomatoes & Prosciutto

Cathy Erway's book, The Art of Eating In, is slowly but surely changing my life. If you, like me, are guilty of eating out on a regular basis you MUST get your hands on a copy of her book. Trust me on this. In the meantime, you can check out her blog, Not Eating Out In New York, which is full of simple, tasty recipes and lots of useful information. I was on dinner duty the other night and decided to give one of her pasta recipes a go. It caught my eye because it looked so "summery" and we've been having some crazy hot weather here in Vancouver this week. A summery dish seemed like a good fit.

I made this recipe using smoked ham prosciutto (I picked up a package at Safeway for $4) and heirloom tomatoes. We didn't have any garlic cloves in the house so I used some of Alan's minced garlic that comes in a little jar he gets from a nearby Asian grocery store. This was my first time cooking with prosciutto, and the smells emanating from the pan were scrumptious. It was also my first time cooking with cabbage, and I think I could have cooked it a little longer (it was still a wee bit hard and crunchy) but all in all a deliciously light summery dish.

I'm too lazy to post the recipe on this blog, but you can find it over on Cathy's blog here. I will, however, share these photos ...

Ingredients include prosciutto (or bacon), tomatoes and cabbage

The yummy final product 

... and the lovely outdoor terrace we've made on our apartment balcony. Unfortunately, we didn't get to eat out here tonight because there were three bees swarming about that just wouldn't go away no matter how hard we tried. Boo to the bees. 

I think my favorite thing about this recipe, aside from the yummy smells I got to enjoy while cooking it, is that it doesn't require any sauce. I love pasta but sometimes I find traditional, hearty tomato sauce a bit heavy. Here, the ingredients cook together and the flavors just blend nicely into one another. Delicious!