Last night we had a party for several of my parents Italian friends. My mom thought it would be so wonderful to have a traditional southern BBQ to give them a little taste of the dirty south :)  We made cornbread, BBQ chicken, homemade baked beans, my Marmy' s famous slaw and ended the night with a peach and blueberry cobbler. I don't think our Italian friends new what hit 'em! They enjoyed it but I think I enjoyed it even more. Living out in Seattle I miss some good 'ol southern grub so I was in heaven as I sank my teeth into that warm cobbler smothered with vanilla gelato. I think I am going to have to wear expandable pants for the rest of the week :)

For the appetizers we kept it simple and local(we didn't want to overwhelm our guest with too much southern comfort food!)  So we decided to make a selection of little bites one of which I would like to pass along to you not only because it's delicious but because it is one of the easiest dishes to whip up in minutes!

Asparagus with Parmesan and Prosciutto

• 1 bunch of asparagus, rough ends trimmed
• 1 cup finely grated parmesan
• juice of 4 lemons
• several slices of prosciutto or bresaola (if the slices are too big you can cut them in half)

Blanch asparagus by boiling them for a few minutes in water until they turn bright green. When they are tender remove from heat and place the asparagus in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. (this will preserve the green color)

Remove from ice and dry with a paper towel. Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl and place parmesan into another bowl.  Dip each spear into the lemon juice, then roll in parmesan, and wrap with a piece of prosciutto.  Repeat with the remaining spears.

Enjoy!