Kumara.

What is Kumara? It's a sweet potato cultivated in New Zealand over 1000 years ago. It is a popular favorite in Australia and New Zealand. The original kumara were very small but in the early 1850s, a larger American variety was quickly adopted for its superior size and flavor. I found an interesting recipe on about.com in their Australian section that calls for sweet potato tossed in pasta with prosciutto and pesto.  I was a little skeptical of the combination but was pleasantly surprised. 1st, I've never fried up prosciutto before and will definately find room in my culinary files to cook with it more often. Crispy, thin without the heavy grease that bacon delivers on.

I didn't bother trying this out on Elie or Katy. Elie had rigatoni with a tomato marinara sauce that I picked up from Trader Joe's. The sauce smelled so fresh and I will be a repeat customer for more sauce priced at $1.99 moving forward. I also enjoyed their organic whole wheat spaghetti noodle for our meal. LOVE Trader Joe's.

Sweet Potato, Prosciutto and Pesto Pasta

1 medium sweet potato, cut into chunks
5 - 10 thin slices of prosciutto
5 Tbl. pesto
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
Parmigiano Reggiano for shaving
Sea salt
Spaghetti for 4
Olive oil for drizzling


Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle sweet potato with olive oil and roast 25-45 minutes or until tender.
2. Once cooked, remove sweet potato from oven to cool. Cut into small cubes. Set aside.
3. Heat a fry-pan with a little oil over low-medium heat. Fry prosciutto until crispy. Drain on paper towels and then crumble. Set aside.
4. Boil water for the pasta and then cook according to packet instructions. Drain pasta and then mix pesto until pasta is coated.
5. Add sweet potato, prosciutto and cherry tomatoes. Stir well. Grate the Parmigiano Reggiano and serve.

Enjoy!

p.s. Katy had pesto rigatoni noodles with a caesar salad. She was happy too.