I’m so thankful I’m Italian.

For many reasons really.

But mostly for the food

And for the ease of preparation of the food

And for how easy entertaining is if you just whip up a bunch of Italian appetizers and antipasto.

One of my favorites for the summer?

Prosciutto wrapped asparagus.

Spring and summer is when you can find the really thin, really tender pencil asparagus. That’s my favorite.

All you need is asparagus, prosciutto and some olive oil.

We had about ten people over for drinks and I made an assortment of small plates.

I used a pound of asparagus and a half pound of prosciutto.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Line a cookie sheet with foil. Nobody likes cleanup when you’re having a cocktail party.

Wash the asparagus and cut off the bottom fibrous part. I peeled some of the thicker pieces too.

No snap each asparagus spear in half and place the two half together.

Take a piece of prosciutto and wrap it around each asparagus bundle.

Set up an assembly line and keep going until all the asparagus is wrapped.

Drizzle with olive oil and black pepper. The prosciutto I got was really salty so I didn’t add salty. Taste test a piece and see if you think yours needs salt though as all prosciutto varies.

Bake for about twenty minutes, plate ’em up and watch ’em go!