Broccoli Snap Peas and Ham

Despite the unimaginative name, this is one of my favorite vegetable dishes so far this year, and it came about mostly by accident...

I had a voice-over session for Bento Expo in Tokyo, and I always like to stop by a depachika for groceries in Shinjuku on my way home. One of the great things about shopping late in the day is that there are often good deals to be had, and sure enough, they were having a two-for-one sale on broccoli and snap peas.

Around the same time, my wife was grocery shopping at our local market, and she also found a great deal on broccoli... and snap peas. Back at home, we had a good laugh, and I got to be the one to figure out how to fit the surplus of veggies into the fridge while she whipped something up with the stuff that didn't fit. The list?

• 1 head of broccoli
• 1 bag of snap peas
• 1 mostly empty carton of sliced ham

The vegetables are lightly blanched in well-salted water (which makes them perfectly delicious on their own), then some garlic gets sautéed in a generous amount of olive oil. Next, the ham goes in and gets browned before the broccoli and snap peas get tossed in. Then the whole thing is dusted in copious amounts of Pecorino Romano.