Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus with Garlicky Baked Brie

This Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus with Garlicky Baked Brie is a quick appetizer that is more than the sum of its parts! It looks fancy but is so easy.

When my husband and I first got married, there were three things he absolutely would not eat. Asparagus was one of them. As I questioned his aversion more closely, it turned out that the only asparagus he’d ever tried was from a can. Tinned, as he and the rest of his British contingent would say. 

Well, I had to agree with him on that front. My mom LOVED canned asparagus – could, in fact, make a quick meal of it when she’d get home from work, just opening a can, eating the asparagus and, I’m stifling a gag here, drinking the salty juice. 

So we always had canned asparagus in the pantry. Occasionally it would turn up on the dinner table, slimy and soft. Ugh. Definitely NOT my favorite thing.

But when I got older, I discovered fresh asparagus. What a revelation! Pan-fried, roasted or steamed till just done, still a bit crunchy, fresh asparagus was nothing like its canned/tinned relative. A third cousin, twice removed, if you will. Removed to far, far away, please. 

I introduced my husband to fresh asparagus and suddenly, we were down to two things he would not eat. Score! (In case anyone is wondering, the other two were olives and beets. He loves olives now too. After almost 38 years of wedded bliss, I’ve given up on ever getting him to like beets. He will tolerate the golden ones roasted but it's okay. The more for me.)

Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus with Garlicky Baked Brie 

As you can see from the photos, I have a small round baking dish that is expressly for the purpose of baking Brie or Camembert. If your dish is a bit larger, no worries. The Brie will still be delicious albeit a bit more spread out when it bakes. This recipe is inspired by one on deliciousmagazine.co.uk. 

N.B. This dish needs to be served right out of the oven. It can be assembled earlier in the day and kept refrigerated until ready for baking. Remove both pans from the fridge as you preheat your oven as not all oven-safe pans can go straight from chilled to a hot oven. 

Ingredients

1 round (8.8 oz or 250g) Brie 

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

Black pepper

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, stems discarded

12 slices prosciutto or parma ham

12 asparagus spears, hard ends trimmed

Olive oil to drizzle

Optional to serve: Some crusty bread

Method

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Carefully slice the top rind off of the Brie and put it in a small baking dish. (Discard the rind.) Spread the garlic and thyme leaves around then give the whole thing a couple of generous grinds of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Wrap a prosciutto slice around each asparagus spear and put them in a baking pan. Do not crowd them. We want them to crisp up so they can’t be jammed in close together. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Put both the asparagus pan and the Brie baking dish in your hot oven for 10-15 minutes or until the prosciutto is crisp and the Brie is golden and melted.

Serve immediately while the melted Brie is still hot so you can dip the asparagus in it! The Brie is also fabulous spread on crusty bread, if you are serving some alongside it. 

Enjoy! 

It's Sunday FunDay and have we got some great recipes for you! Many thanks to our host, Sue from Palatable Pastime and her chosen seasonal ingredient, asparagus! 

• Asparagus and Herbed Ricotta Tart from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Roasted Asparagus with Tangerine Gastrique from Palatable Pastime
• Asparagus Pesto from Sneha’s Recipe
• Quick Pickled Asparagus from Culinary Cam
• Asparagus with Lemon, Mint, and Red Peppers from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Asparagus Soup from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus with Garlicky Baked Brie from Food Lust People Love

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

Tasty and delicious, these baked chicken and feta meatballs are made with fresh cilantro and chili peppers and are finished with a squeeze of lemon juice, more feta and cilantro.

If you are looking for a great meatball recipe bursting with flavor that works equally as well as an appetizer or stirred into a fresh tomato sauce, this is it! 

Our star ingredient, the feta, adds salt, sure, but also creaminess and a little tang, along with the yogurt. For a while there, these meatballs were on regular rotation at our house. It’s been a while though so I’ll be making them again soon. We love them!

Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

This recipe makes about 45 bite-size meatballs. I use a small 2 tablespoon scoop which makes them so easy to portion and roll. This recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking. 

Ingredients

7 oz or 200g feta

Small bunch fresh cilantro (mine weighed about 3 1/2 oz or 100g)

¼ cup or 50g old-fashioned rolled oats

1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt

2 small hot chili peppers

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 pound ground chicken (or sub ground turkey or pork)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 lemon

Method

Wash the cilantro thoroughly and spin dry. Pinch off the hard stems and discard. Set aside 1/2 for sprinkling on when serving.

Chop your chili peppers and garlic and put them in a food processor with the other half of the cilantro. Process until finely chopped. 

Crumble your feta and set aside about 1/4 to sprinkle on for serving. Put the rest in a large mixing bowl and stir in the chopped cilantro mixture.

Mix in the oats along with the yogurt and salt.

Add the ground chicken, gently combining until you have a homogenous mixture.

Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C and prepare a baking pan by greasing it with the olive oil. For easy clean up, I like to line my pan first with heavy duty foil.

Use a scoop or a tablespoon to separate the chicken mixture in bite-sized pieces and place them on the prepared baking pan. Use damp (or oiled) hands to roll them into little balls. 

Bake the meatballs in your preheated oven until the bottoms are browned and the centers are no longer pink, 15 to 18 minutes.

Squeeze one half of the lemon over the pan, then use a wooden spoon to move the meatballs around, turning the browned side up, and scraping up any browned bits on the pan. 

Transfer to a serving plate and top with the reserved feta and cilantro. Cut the remaining lemon half into wedges and serve at the table for squeezing on top.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the sixth installment of our Alphabet Challenge for 2024. Today’s recipes are brought to you by the letter F. Many thanks to our challenge creator, Wendy of A Day in the Life on a Farm. 

Check out all the recipes brought to you by the letter F:

• Sneha’s Recipe: French Beans Fry - Andhra Style 
• Culinary Cam: Fennel, Potato, and Petrale Sole Gratin
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Chicken Fajita Bowl
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Fruity Baked Oatmeal
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Turkish Fig Pudding
• Blogghetti: Homemade Fajita Seasoning
• Palatable Pastime: Fake Fatty Pastrami
• Food Lust People Love: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
• Magical Ingredients: Fava Fennel Paratha
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Butternut Squash Soup with French Herbes

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far: 

A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs

B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly

C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw

D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing

E: Everything Pizza Tartin

F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs - Today's post!

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Everything Pizza Tartin

This Everything Pizza Tartin aka Upside Down Pizza is baked with the crust on top, so you can load up on "toppings" like Italian sausage, onion, artichokes, jalapeños and olives and still have a crunchy crust. 

Back when I had an oven heated by bottled gas, I struggled to get it hot enough to bake a loaded pizza crust crunchy on the bottom. Putting too many toppings – a particular problem I have – meant my crust was often soggy. Sure, I could put fewer toppings but no one wants a skimpily topped pizza, do they? 

Then suddenly a solution occurred to me. Everything Pizza Tartin is baked upside down, French apple pie style, with ALL of my favorite ingredients, so the thick crust is still extra crunchy. Just flip to serve!

 

Here it is, straight out of the oven, before flipping. 

I use this particular pan because it can go from stovetop to oven. I brown the Italian sausage, then I take it off the heat to layer on the rest of the ingredients, finally tucking the dough in on top.

But you can cook the sausage then bake your everything pizza tartin in a large pie plate or a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. You do not want a pan that sticks. And don’t forget to cut some slits in your crust to let the steam escape. No soggy tops, or rather, bottoms!

I cannot tell you how pleased with myself I was when I figured this out!

Everything Pizza Tartin – Upside Down Everything Pizza 

You do have to be careful to cook it just long enough so the crust is golden brown but the bottom doesn’t burn. When it’s starting to get just a little bit dark in places, it’s absolutely perfect. I figure about 25-30 minutes, depending on how many toppings you’ve added.

Ingredients


For the 10in or 26cm round thick crust:

2 1⁄4 cups or 280g flour


1 rounded teaspoon active yeast – about 4g 

3⁄4 cup or 180ml warm water


1⁄2 teaspoon salt


1 teaspoon olive oil 

For the topping: 

2 links Italian sausage, approximate weight 4 3⁄4 oz or 135g 

Olive oil


Generous handful sliced pepperoni – say 10 or 12 slices


1 cup or 110g grated mozzarella cheese 

1⁄2 cup or 120ml pizza sauce


Other possible toppings:


Small artichoke hearts, well drained and halved


Sliced jalapeños, pickled or fresh


Finely sliced onion


Black olives


Your favorite pizza topping -­ no need to limit your toppings! 

Recommended: Fresh basil leaves for serving 

Method

To make the crust, mix 1 cup or 125g flour with the yeast and add in the warm water. Leave to prove for about 5 minutes. You should see some bubbling. 


Add the salt then the rest of the flour, a little at a time, mixing continuously until you have a soft dough. You might not use quite all of the flour. Knead for about five minutes or until the ball of dough is smooth and elastic. 


Leave to prove in a warm place, covered with cling film or a damp towel, for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Pizza dough can be prepared one day ahead. Leave to rise, covered, in the refrigerator. Allow to come to room temperature before rolling out and baking. You can also substitute store-­bought pizza dough.)

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C when the dough has about 15 minutes rising time left. 


Meanwhile, prepare your toppings. In the bottom of your ovenproof skillet, brown the sausage in small balls, adding a drizzle of olive oil. 


Remove from the heat once browned and spoon off some of the excess fat cooking the sausages might have created. 


Sprinkle in the finely sliced onion, the artichokes, jalapeños, olives and other toppings, distributing them evenly. Top these with the pepperoni slices. 


Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese. Spoon on the pizza sauce, spreading it around gently with the back of the spoon.

 


Roll or press your crust out so that it’s just a bit larger than the
diameter of your fillings in the pan. Cut three slits to allow steam to escape while it’s baking. 


Fit the crust over the fillings and tuck it in all around the sides. Use a pastry brush to brush olive oil over the top of the crust and down the tucked sides. 




Bake the pizza tartin in your preheated oven for about 25­-30 minutes or until the crust is a lovely golden color and quite crisp on the outside. When you tap it, it should sound hollow. 


Leave the pizza tartin to cool for about 5­-7 minutes then invert it carefully onto a serving plate. 


If any of the bits do stick, just scoop them off the pan and replace on the pizza tartin. 


Sprinkle with fresh basil leaves and cut in wedges and serve hot. 


Enjoy!

Welcome to the fifth installment of our Alphabet Challenge for 2024. Today’s recipes are brought to you by the letter E. Many thanks to our challenge creator, Wendy of A Day in the Life on a Farm. 

Check out all the recipes brought to you by the letter E. 

• Sneha’s Recipe : Egg Roast 
• Culinary Cam: Elderflower & Roasted Strawberry Layer Cake 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Tomato and Eggs 
• Palatable Pastime: Easy Homestyle Chicken Enchiladas 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: English Muffin Bread 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Egg Pulao 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Egg Bread Hoagie Rolls 
• Blogghetti: Bacon Cheddar Egg Salad 
• Magical Ingredients: Edamame Paratha 
• Food Lust People Love: Everything Pizza Tartin
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Buttery Everything Bagel Seasoning Biscuits

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far: 

A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs

B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly

C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw

D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing

E: today's post! Everything Pizza Tartin

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