Parma Ham Bundles
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.
I use a French brand of soft goat’s cheese called Chavroux, but any soft goat’s curd cheese or creamy cheese would do.
Makes25
CostModerate
Total Timeunder 30 minutes
Make Ahead RecipeYes
OccasionBuffet, Cocktail Party, Formal Dinner Party
Recipe Courseantipasto/mezze, cold appetizer
Five Ingredients or LessYes
Mealbrunch, dinner
Moodstressed
Taste and Texturecheesy, creamy, meaty, rich, salty, savory, sweet
Ingredients
- 14 oz sliced Parma ham (not sliced ultra-thinly)
- 1 1/2 cups dried mission figs or other dried figs
- 1/2 cup mild soft goat cheese
Instructions
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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.
2004 Nigella Lawson
