Prosciutto, Pear and Blue Cheese on Toast

I hadn’t planned on doing a “Things on Toast” recipe again so soon. However, I have had this post for Prosciutto, Pear and Blue Cheese on Toast in my drafts for some time and last week I was involved in the National Dairy Council’s Cheese up Your Life competition and had to post it then. You’d think I’d be sick of cheese after that, but that will never happen. Combining pears with blue cheese is something I have posted about before here and here. Have a look at the salad post, one of my first and I didn’t prattle on at all in it!!

I make meals or canapes with this combination of ingredients regularly. It is a real burst of flavour. You can make little crostini versions of this or I have in the past wrapped the cooked pear and blue cheese in prosciutto to serve as a canape. However this Prosciutto, Pear and Blue Cheese on Toast is a really great light meal and ready in under 10 minutes. Perfect for those days when you really don’t want to cook.

On the National Dairy Council’s competition, you can see what it was about here and keep an eye on that site for the finalists recipes. I’ll add them here when they are online. I entered 2 dishes, one of them being a variation of the blue cheese panna cotta recipe from above but that didn’t make the final. It was a really enjoyable day in Cooks Academy last Friday. Six of us were invited to cook our finalist dishes and it was filmed and there was a food stylist in to take pictures of our food. I don’t think my pictures will live up to those standards! Hanna and Róisín were the two winners on the day. Well deserved and I had practiced my gracious loser face so it was all good!

 

Useful tips & links:

• I’ve used smoked prosciutto here on my toast which is a type of Italian cured ham. I love the flavour and regularly use it for salads or on pizza. You can use any type of ham or bacon you like, or leave it off to keep it meat free.
• If you want to make this even faster, you can skip cooking the pears and just slice them finely to serve. You can also just slice the blue cheese if you don’t want to make a spread from it.
• I use sourdough toast, use any decent bread you like. If you have walnut bread that would be a great flavour with it.
• You will have some blue cheese leftover, it will keep covered in the fridge for a couple of days. Or just make more toast.
• If you don’t have or don’t like blue cheese, you can use brie, goats’ cheese or even ricotta instead.
• For a different dairy-free take, have a look at Joanne’s beautiful Ham Hock and Pear Salad on Stitch and Bear.

 

 

 

 

Prosciutto, Pear and Blue Cheese on Toast

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 medium pear, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• A knob of butter
• 2 large slices of sourdough or similar bread
• 100g of blue cheese
• 100ml of natural yogurt
• The juice of ½ a lemon
• Salt and pepper
• 4 slices of smoked prosciutto
• 2 teaspoons of honey
• Fresh picked thyme leaves
• Rocket leaves and balsamic glaze to serve (optional)

Method:

• If you are cooking your pear, do this first. Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan mover a medium heat. Add the pears and cook gently on both sides just until they are softening but still have a little bite. Remove the pears from the pan and add the honey and thyme leaves to the pan, taste and season with a little salt and pepper. Keep this dressing in the warm pan but off the heat.
• While the pears are cooking toast the bread and make the blue cheese spread. Mix the yogurt and blue cheese well together, season with a little salt and some back pepper. Add about half of the lemon juice and taste for seasoning. Remember you will be adding salty ham so don’t over season.
• Spread the blue cheese mix on the toast, top with the ham and pears. Drizzle over a little of the dressing and thyme leaves from the pan. If you are using salad leaves on the side, toss them in a little of the dressing and add a little balsamic glaze.