Parma Ham Bundles

Information

Notes

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.

Directions

Cut or tear each slice of Parma ham into two or three strips. Scissor each fig in half – if you’re not using the little Californian mission figs, which I found in packages at the supermarket, you may need to quarter them – and spread a teaspoon of goat’s cheese onto the cut half of the fig. Place the piece of fig cheese-side down on to the center of a strip of ham and then make it into a bundle. Sit each bulging pink parcel so that the darkness of the fig is hidden plate-side down.