Recipes

Prosciutto-Wrapped Baked Apple

October 3, 2017
prosciutto-wrapped baked apple

Prosciutto-Wrapped Baked Apple

My boyfriend and I lived together for three years before we got married. Even though we finally took the matrimonial plunge, we resisted the efforts of our friends and family members to have wedding showers. What was the point? We already had towels and dishes. We most definitely had wine glasses, as well as kitchen equipment, appliances, and various culinary accoutrements. I thought it was greedy, as well as unnecessary, to even expect wedding presents never mind pre-presents in the form of shower gifts. It was all I could do to create a wedding gift registry at William Ashley, as one does (or at least did back then). I can’t begin to describe how icky I felt walking the aisles of William Ashley selecting serving platters and carving sets. My husband-to-be’s godmother insisted on hosting a wedding shower as her God-given duty and inalienable godmotherly right, however, so we caved and allowed just the one wedding shower. I can’t remember if it was our idea or hers, but the theme of the wedding shower was wine. Everyone brought a bottle of really nice wine, like really nice wine, for our future wine cellar. Of course, we have long since depleted our stock of wedding shower wine, but this is a genius idea for a shower which I highly recommend. Or a cook book themed wedding shower; I would have gone for that too, if I had thought of it.

We had opinions about our wedding, and keep in mind that we were in our early twenties. The original plan was a backyard BBQ slash pool party. There would be a giant charcoal brazier and we would hire cooks from the restaurant where my husband worked at the time to grill steaks, corn on the cob, and pork baby back ribs. There would be a keg. At some point, there would be a wedding ceremony. Maybe we would get married in our bathing suits, and I would have a towel wrapped around my wet hair instead of veil. Sadly, we didn’t have that fantasy wedding. What actually happened was this: someone came to my parents’ house and did my makeup. My husband had a boutonniere. We got married in a church. I wore a white dress (although it wasn’t the bikini-shaped one I had originally imagined, or the skin-tight, leather, mini-skirted one I tried on at Creed’s), but it was still really short and I would wear it to this day if it still fit).

The church we were married in is my husband’s family’s church. His parents were married there. And his grandparents. And both sisters. And my husband had been an altar boy back in the day. There was no way we could ever have had that backyard BBQ, bikini-wearing, brazier-cooking fantasy wedding. We were lucky about the family connection, though, because it meant we could get married at the family church even though we weren’t churchgoers ourselves. We also managed to finagle a way out of the required wedding class.  I don’t know what happens in these classes, particularly ones held at a church. I think there is stuff about how to argue respectfully, manage finances, cope with crises, that sort of thing. If you have lived together before getting married (as most people do), you don’t need a marriage class. Here is my theory about what should be considered in place of a marriage class. This assumes that the couple has lived together and that each member has a modicum of self-knowledge. This is no joke. Number one: make sure that someone likes white meat and someone likes dark meat. Number two: confirm that someone has access to a family cottage. That’s it. Happy marriage virtually guaranteed. Oh, and there must be agreement about prosciutto. You most both either love it or hate it. I recommend love it, of course, in order to have a full and complete life. Not liking prosciutto is like not liking chocolate; it’s weird and it means we can’t be friends. There is no more delicious or romantic meal than prosciutto, pecorino cheese, prosecco, crusty bread, seedy mustard, and cornichons. Except maybe a backyard BBQ.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Baked Apple
 
Ingredients
  • 4 slices of prosciutto, very thinly sliced
  • 1 Honeycrisp apple (this really matters; the apple must be sweet, tart and relatively firm)
  • 3 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp dry bread crumbs
  • cracked black pepper (to taste)
  • fresh thyme, finely chopped, about 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. peel and core apple
  2. slice apple into 12 pieces
  3. cut each piece of prosciutto into 3 slices, lengthwise
  4. mix brown sugar, bread crumbs, pepper, and thyme in a small bowl
  5. press each apple slice into sugar mixture
  6. wrap apple slice in a strip of prosciutto (you can use a toothpick to hold it together, but it's not necessary)
  7. place on parchment-lined baking sheet
  8. bake 350F for 8 - 12 minutes until prosciutto is crispy and apples are softened

This is a great cocktail party snack. I think it would be especially yummy to serve before your backyard BBQ wedding.

This recipe can be multiplied as many times as you like depending upon the size of your party, or wedding. I can eat all twelve pieces by myself, for lunch, and I often do.

Now read my rant, “The Asshole Effect: Chaos Theory, Behavioural Science and Restaurants”.

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