Proscuitto and Provolone Wrapped Pears and Asparagus

Ever since I made the Provolone and Proscuitto Wrapped Figs and Pears, I've had it in mind to do it again with a few different ingredients. Thanks to the Beef Wellington, I had some proscuitto in the fridge, so why not now? In addition to the leftover proscuitto, I also used leftover asparagus.

Here it's plated with a leftover stuffed chicken breast from Stefanos, my favorite restaurant.

I steamed some of the asparagus in the microwave oven for about 3 minutes.

Take two ripe pears (a pair of pears if you will), halve them and remove the core with a spoon.

Spread a slice of proscuitto and place half a pear on it. Top that with some asparagus. Lightly salt and pepper the stack. Go easy on the salt...the proscuitto is salty already. I used ths really excellent oak smoked pepper I got at the Tea and Spice Shop in Winter Park.

Wrap the proscuitto over the asparagus and pears. Place a slice of  provolone over the proscuitto  wrapped pear and put them in a shallow baking pan.

Put the pan under the broiler for about 3 or 4 minutes until the cheese is melty and brown.

Enjoy!

-J

Proscuitto and provolone wrapped pear and figs

I'm always up for a cooking and/or eating adventure. I'd never eaten or used fresh figs before, so when the grocery store had them on their Buy One, Get One special, I couldn't resist. (That's another thing I'm a complete sucker for...the BOGO!)

They had 3 different varieties, none of which were familiar to me, so I picked two interesting looking ones..."Black Mission" and "Brown Turkey" figs. The Missions are a little bit smaller than the Brown Turkeys, just an fyi. I also picked up two Bosc pairs.

I used some of the figs with some mango I had in the fridge that I needed to use up. I made a zabayon sauce and poured it over the sliced figs and diced mango, put some granulated sugar on the top and put them under the broiler to brown for a few mins. This attempt was OK, and was a nice follow up to the Seafood Bisque, but didn't pack the punch I wanted when I ate some of the extra the following day.

Anyhow...on to the topic at hand...

Lay a thin slice of proscuitto on the counter or plate and place about an 1/8 - 1/4 of a pear on it. Place one piece of each type of fig up against the pear. Carefully wrap the proscuitto around the fruit and fasten with toothpick(s) if necessary to hold them together. Gently place a half slice of Provolone cheese over the roll and place it in a shallow baking dish. Repeat this as many times as you like, or until you fill your baking dish.

Place the baking dish under the broiler for 3 - 6 minutes. Keep an eye on them. When the cheese gets melty and a little brown, take them out.  I drizzled a little bit of my lime mint syrup over them, but honey would work great too.

These were a great side to our spaghetti dinner and salad. I also took one to work the next day for lunch.


Enjoy!