Prosciutto with figs – prosciutto e fichi
I love summer it’s my favorite season of the year for all its sweet and colorful fruit. I have my own garden that flourishes with every possible kind of vegetable, but there’s not enough space to have my own fruit trees and plants. I don’t particularly regret it though, because I’m blessed with wonderful neighbors that surprise me by bringing me their treasures.
The other day my husband arrived home with a basket of green figs, called fioroni. I couldn’t believe it. I love love figs but it’s been a long time since I tasted such a sweet, flavorful and ripe fig. I don’t usually buy them in the store, because being picked unripe from the plant they never fully develop their sweet flavor.
I’ve had my share of good sweet figs. My auntie had a wonderful fig tree that produced black figs. It was a really tall tree and I had to use a long ladder to reach the fruit. I’m afraid of heights but couldn’t resist the call from the figs. Without looking down, and visibly shaking, I would climb the ladder and pick the lower figs.
I have another precious memory related to this wonderful fruit. Many years ago in Calabria the grounds surrounding the apartments where we were vacationing were littered with small fig trees. Figs were left to mature and dry on the plant. While walking through them we would pick the dry figs, each with a small sugary drop at the bottom of the fruit. They were the most wonderful thing I have ever eaten. Unfortunately fig trees had to go to make space for new apartments. I can vividly remember their flavor and I’m always hoping to find them again somewhere near this place where I often spend my summer vacations.
Speaking of summer this is another classic Italian appetizer for the season. It’s an extremely simple dish but the ingredients have to be perfect and of good quality. The prosciutto has to be soft and not overly salted, we call it “dolce” sweet, so when you choose your prosciutto make sure it’s not cut from the beginning of the piece it would be better if it’s cut from the middle. The figs of course have to be mature and sweet otherwise the dish won’t have that wonderful salty sweet contrast.
Ingredients:
8 ripe figs, black or green
8 thin slices of prosciutto crudo
Serves: 4 persons
Preparation:
1. Cut each fig in four parts without cutting it through. Gently open the fig and arrange it on a serving dish.
2. Give the prosciutto a rose shape and place it in the center of the opened fig.
3. Refrigerate the figs up until one hour or serve immediately.
Notes:
Figs can also be peeled if you prefer.
Gigliola and I were just out for a walk and she was talking about how much she loved figs in her childhood. We have a small fig tree in our garden here in Ohio but its hard to keep it producing due to the climate. For the last several years we have been bringing it into the garage to keep it from freezing in the winter. The figs we get are quite small. So……..I am bringing her to Verona in a couple of weeks to see if there remains any figs on the trees around Bussolengo. I fear they may all be gone.
Today 8-22-2010
I just picked a basket full of figs approx. 10 lb. from my 10 trees ( 4 different flavors)
they are awesome.
My husband’s fig tree here in Northern California is loaded with fruit this year…can’t wait to try this recipe when they are ready to eat! Grazie mille!
Hi Michael,
I hope you found the figs you were looking for. I didn’t have much luck with mine in Calabria but I’m still hopeful for next year.