Prosciutto Hummos Red Pepper Bruschetta

These really hit the spot on this grey, frigid December day for lunch, along with some pea soup.

First the recipe, then the back story.

Serves: 1
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes (can be mostly coextensive with the prep time)
Weight Watchers Points Plus: 7 (estimated)

• 2 slices crusty sourdough bread (fairly small and airy, in this case)
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp Abraham's Hummos, original flavor
• 1/4 cup fire-roasted red peppers, packed in water
• 1/2 oz prosciutto di parma

1. Pre-heat a grill pan for 5 minutes.
2. Using a brush, coat both sides of bread with olive oil.
3. Cut the red peppers into strips about 1/2" wide and 3" long
4. Grill the bread, so that the grill pan leaves grill lines. Flip when necessary.
5. When the bread is done, spread each piece with 2 tsp of hummos
6. Layer the red peppers over the hummos, covering the bread as much as possible.
7. Slice prosciutto in half lengthwise.
8. Layer prosciutto over peppers as artfully as you can.

While I ate these as essentially two halves of an open-faced sandwich, one might consider using smaller pieces of bread and having these as hors d'oeuvres.

Back story.

I was on my way out of a Weight Watchers meeting and walking home. I was reflecting on how I had been having trouble eating reasonable amounts of food in part because I was bored with what I have been eating and also had been generally anxious and using food as a diversion. I thought that coming up with new very tasty and healthy things to make would be both diverting in itself and satisfying. I stopped at a barber shop and there was like a 20-minute wait so I went through my email while waiting. I came upon an email from PureWow on No-Brainer good ideas that referred me to this Greatist article called Cooking for One: 29 Insanely Easy, Healthy Meals You Can Make in Minutes which in turn referred me to this recipe for Turkey Hummus Sandwiches with Black Pepper Honey and I thought that looked like a cool direction for a lunch. While also reflecting on how finding content on the web these days often involved multi-layers of navigation through many places, each monetizing your browsing with ads of various levels of annoyance and relevance but don't get me started.

So, when I got home I was looking around for something to make for lunch and used the recipe for inspiration given what was in the 'fridge. No turkey in the house, but the prosciutto seemed like a no-brainer substitute. Picking up on the Italian theme I just created, I: renamed it the sandwich a bruschetta because why not, added the red peppers, and briefly considered using white bean paste in place of the hummus, but the white bean paste looked deadly so out that went.

I have to say: these are really, really, really delicious. Really easy to make.

Some notes:

• Do not even think about skipping the bread-grilling step.
• When I make them again, white bean paste maybe but definitely will warm up the hummus to room temperature first as the 'fridge temp hummus was a little jarring.
• The bread was from Fairway, at the fresh bread counter, sliced by the attendant. I think they called it a Country Sourdough Loaf but this is not critical. It doesn't have to be sourdough, but it should be crusty, airy, and fresh tasting.