Olive and Prosciutto Spaghetti

     The day I got back from my last 10-day trip, I couldn't wait to cook myself a proper meal. The travel diet is less than ideal, so the whole train ride home, I was planning my dinner. Remembering the beef bourguignon I had recently made, I realized that I still had half a bottle of red wine in the fridge. Since you couldn't pay me enough to drink the stuff, I needed to find another recipe to use it up. As I walked up to my apartment, I had my heart set on making coq au vin. Until I opened the fridge and saw that someone had stolen my leftover wine!

Dear beverage thief,
     I understand that my open bottle of wine had been in the fridge for over a week. I can see how it would seem that it had been forgotten. Still, I assure you that the pleasure I would have gotten out of my delicious dinner would have been much greater than that that you got from drinking it. If the highlight of your day is scoring half a bottle of $3 wine, then I urge you to take a step back and look at your life.
                                                                                                  Sincerely,
                                                                                                  The mad chef.
     So I had to think of a plan b. And what do you think I did instead of slaving for hours over an elaborate French meal? That's right, I made spaghetti! Now, it wasn't just any spaghetti. It was inspired by Pinterest, but simply because this is Germany, it ended up being a new creation. Also because this is Germany, you'll notice a complete lack of attention given to presentation. I really should go buy some bigger pans. Anyway, this recipe has many of my favorite things in it. It takes one of the easiest foods on Earth to cook and classes it up just a notch.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2lb dried spaghetti
2 minced shallots
3 cloves of garlic
3/4 cup black olives
3 diced tomatoes
3/4 cup white wine
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons tomato paste
about 8 slices of prosciutto
1 teaspoon flour
grated parmesan
fresh basil

DIRECTIONS:
1. Cook and drain the spaghetti. Prepare all the veggies.

2. In the pot you used to cook the pasta, heat some olive oil, and cook the shallots for 2 minutes. Add the olives, tomatoes, prosciutto, and garlic, and continue to cook for 2 minutes.

3. Now build the sauce by adding the wine and letting it cook for 2-3 minutes. Then, stir in the butter and tomato paste. When you're almost done, thicken it as much as you need to by adding a little bit of flour.

4. Toss the pasta with the sauce, and serve garnished with parmesan and fresh basil. Unfortunately, parmesan only comes in slices here. It's bizarre. 

Enjoy, and stay tuned for when I finally get around to making that coq au vin. I'm thinking next week!