This is the ideal recipe to start with as it’s a model of good party food – simple to make and can be left to sit around happily. I’d make lots up in advance, though, leave them in the fridge, and then out in the kitchen, to be taken round to people later once the hot food has either dried up or got too cold.

Make sure the Parma ham, or other prosciutto crudo of your choice, is not too fatty nor cut too thin. Parma ham and figs is a time-honored combination and the soft sourness of the goat’s cheese perfectly offsets the greater sweetness of the dried figs used here. I have made this, in late summer, with fresh figs, but actually I prefer it with the dried.