Baked Figs with Prosciutto & Formaggio di Fossa

Baked Figs with Prosciutto and Formaggio di Fossa

Baked sweet figs wrapped in salty prosciutto, stuffed with stinky sheep's milk cheese is a sweet andsavory way to start your meal. This is also a perfect example of balancing flavors - (if any of you has taken one of our cooking classes, this is what Jason refers to as FASSA: fat, acid, sweet, salt & aromatic). Instead of a soft sweet cheese that many recipes call for when stuffing in figs, we went the opposite direction - using the sharpest, stinkiest cheese we can find, which means formaggio di fossa (sheep's milk cheese aged in a pit from Le Marche, Italy). Read a past post about unearthing this unique cheese.

Formaggio di Fossa from Beltrami in Le Marche, Italy

Baked Figs with Prosciutto and Formaggio di Fossa

serves 4
4 figs
2 slices of prosciutto, cut lengthwise in half
1 slice of stinky aged cheese, cut into four little pieces

Slice off the tip-top of the fig. Cut a shallow X into the top of the fig.
Squeeze slightly from the bottom and the fig will open slightly like a flower.
Wrap a half piece of prosciutto around the fig.
Stuff a piece of cheese into the open 'fig flower.'
Place snugly in a baking dish with a drop of olive oil.
Bake in a hot oven of 225C for 10-12 minutes until the cheese melts, prosciutto is crispy and the fig is soft.
Serve and eat immediately.