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.

Spiced Baked Figs with Vanilla Panna Cotta

Sweet dreams are made of this... Baked spiced figs with creamy vanilla panna cotta is utterly decadent and gorgeous on the plate! During an unseasonably late fig season, we are celebrating with wild green figs from our neighbors tree. I love figs with pecorino cheese and honey, but now that our neighbor Caroline taught us this recipe its a new favorite! A beautiful finish for your late summer, early-fall dinner.

Recipe for Panna Cotta with Baked Spiced Figs

Baked Spiced Figs:
12 small figs
1 vanilla stick
a pinch nutmeg
a pinch cinnamon
60-75gr. Sugar
butter

Preheat your oven up to 200C.

Butter an oven tin.
Cut the figs in half and place them face up and close together in the buttered tin.
Open the vanilla stick and take the pods out, drizzle the pods, cinnamon and nutmeg over the figs.
Bake in the oven for 15minutes, lower the temperature to 160 C., drizzle the sugar over the figs and keep in the oven for another 15minutes. Let them caramelize.

Vanilla Panna Cotta
serves 8
Ingredients for Panna Cotta
3 sheets of gelatin
scant 1/2 cup milk or 120 ml
2  cups or 500 ml heavy cream
1/2 cup or 60 g sugar
1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise

Fill a bowl with water, add the gelatin and let is soak. Pour milk into a pan & bring to just below simmering, then remove the pan from the heat. Do NOT let it boil. Drain & squeeze out the gelatin & add it to the milk. Pour the cream into another pan, add the sugar and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Then remove the pan from the heat, remove the vanilla bean and stir in the milk mixture.

You can put the mixture into any kind of ramekin, mold, cup, you like. Rinse your 'glass' in ice-cold water, shaking out any excess water & fill with the milk mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for several hours until set (at least 3-4 hours). Turn out onto a serving dish & serve with fruit sauce or chocolate sauce.

fresh picked wild figs from Le Marche, Italy