Prosciutto Cups

2012-03-22

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Bacon lettuce and tomato. It evokes memories of childhood summertime evenings. Simple sandwiches of three components that cause a tastebud explosion filled with three flavors.

These Prosciutto Cups are inspired by a recipe I saw on Top Chef. Except only the cups made out of prosciutto inspired me..not the fillings. While chef worthy, they weren’t one of those recipes you or I would aspire to every day.

(If you’d like to see the video of us making these on Rise and Shine – click play below!)

For you see the cups in these sweeties are made of thinly sliced prosciutto, thinly sliced, molded and baked, but the filling was very “Top Chef” and not very “everyday life home cook extraordinaire”. It got me thinking..what could I put in them that would be simple and fun?

Prosciutto …it’s basically bacon without the smokey flavor. What do I think about when I think of bacon?

Eggs, obviously..but not for an appetizer.

Bacon. Lettuce. Tomato. Sandwiches.

There we go. And hence is the inspiration. Let’s see where the mad path of culinary inspiration took me last night.

Take some very thinly sliced prosciutto. I found it in this pack at my local grocer.

These individual slices are paper-thin and perfect for this recipe.

Take each slice and cut it in half to form a 3×3 square.

Take one slice and press it up and around a mini-muffin tray that you’ve sprayed with cooking spray.

Mold it around the muffin molds with your thumb so it’s snugly fitting.

Then pop the entire tray into the oven at 350º for about 12 minutes.

When it comes out, it will look like this.

Remove the cute little cups and put them on a paper towel just to absorb any grease.

Seriously, how cute are those? Little cups made of piggy goodness!

While those are baking, you should make your filling. Sundried Tomato Aoili filling.

There are sundried tomatoes packed in oil…and then there are those that aren’t packed in oil.

I found these in the produce section of my grocery store. They aren’t packed in oil.

Take about 2 tablespoons of these and chop them with a knife pretty finely.

Add these into a bowl. Then take one clove of garlic.

Smash it, mince it up or press it with a garlic press right into the bowl.

Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and pepper.

Mix it up real well.

Spoon it into a freezer bag and snip off one corner.

Make sure it’s wide enough for the chopped sun-dried tomato to squeeze enough.

Squeeze a little blob into each prosciutto cup.

Then take a cup or so of arugula. Arugula is peppery and fresh and wonderful.

Chop it up finely.

Press a bit of the arugula into the cups on top of the ailoli.

Cut up a cherry tomato or two and place one on each little cup.

And transfer them to their unique, wonderful, appetizer plate/board.

Then I popped one of these things in my mouth.

It was an explosion of garlic, mayo, pork and fresh tomato.

It was the perfect savory appetizer.

And it was easy…very easy.

Katie’s Printable Recipe – Prosciutto Cups

Katie's love of cooking and eating good food has led her down a path of fun filled friend and family gatherings around the kitchen. She is an Oklahoma Food blogger, TV food personality for Freedom43tv, author of Food Lovers's Guide to Oklahoma and lover of all all the good things of life!