Monday, April 6th Recipe

This is one of my go to recipes for an appetizer or as a hors d'oeuvre. The balance is great, sweet and salty and can easily be picked up.

Caramelized pear and goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto

Servings: 20

Ingredients

1 loaf French baguette

3 red Bartlett pears

1 tablespoon butter

½ lb fresh goat cheese

10 slices prosciutto, sliced super thin

Olive oil, as needed

Salt, as needed

Pepper, as needed

1. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Using a bread knife, slice the baguette on a bias into ¼" pieces. On the bias means slicing at a 45 degree angle, which gives the finished product more surface area.
3. Lay the slices out flat on a sheet tray. Drizzle the slices with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Bake in the oven until they turn a light golden brown, about 7 minutes.
5. Cut the pear into ¼" slices. The best way to do this is to slice on either side of the core, discard the core, lay pear chunk flat and slice into ¼" slices.
6. Heat a large sauté pan on high heat, when it is hot, dump the butter into the pan. Allow the butter to brown slightly and then dump in the sliced pear. Sauté on high allowing the pear to caramelize. Don't overcook though; the pear will turn to mush.
7. Spread a layer of goat cheese on top of each toasted bread slice. Top each with a little of the caramelized pear.
8. Cut each slice of prosciutto in half length wise. Take one piece of prosciutto and wrap the slice of bread with the goat cheese and pear.