Prosciutto Wrapped Pear and Cheese Skewers

[GrillinFool]

This may be the most high brow thing I've done on the site. I was at a local wine bar and had their prosciutto and pear flatbread and was amazed by it that I wanted to recreate it on the grill.

Here's the full write up with all the methodology I used to come up with the perfect combination of ingredients and cooking methods and here are the pics:

And the rest of the recipe sans pics for the link averse:

This very well may be the most upscale thing I have done on the grill but it was absolutely delicious. After having a pear and prosciutto flatbread at a local wine bar over the weekend, I was determined to recreate that incredible flavor on the grill. This recipe involved quite a bit of experimentation to determine the best combination of flavors and cooking methods. I will go over all the options and then list which were deemed the best by the tasters I had sampling this appetizer…

Ingredients:

1 pear, ripe
12 slices of prosciutto
12 slices or teaspoons of cheese (more on this in a moment)
24 walnuts or pecans (optional)
12 skewers

Makes 12 appetizers

The cheeses I used for this are feta, asiago, smoked gouda and blue. Use whatever you like here like a goat cheese or even a brie.

I cored the pear and lopped off the thin end of the slices, as they wouldn’t fit inside the prosciutto but you could let them stick out if you wish:

I prepared the Grill Manufacturer That Shall Not Be Named for two zone grilling as I wanted to try these both direct and indirect. I then grilled the pears quickly over the hot coals for only a minute or two to soften them up and caramelize the outside a bit:

That’s right, I cross hatched my pears!?! I couldn’t resist. I made these both with un seared pears and with these. You could go either way. If the pear isn’t quite ripe, I recommend going this route to soften them up.

After I put some nice grill marks on the pears it was time to roll up some apps. This is with a slice of smoked gouda:

And finally insert the skewer. These are optional, but they help to keep everything together as the prosciutto is usually really then and can come apart easily:

I also made up a few with some pecans. This one was with feta and with pears I did not sear first:

Before you put anything on the grill other than the pears, I recommend giving it a good cleaning. I’m not talking about running the wire brush over it, that’s a given every time you spark up the grill. I’m talking really cleaning those grates as the prosciutto has very little fat and will easily stick to a dirty grill grate (pretty much negates my father from every making these on any of his grills).

What’s the next level up of cleaning the grill? Take about 5-6 paper towels and fold down to the size of a cocktail napkin and then pour vegetable oil liberally in the middle:

Then fold in half so the oil is on the outside and rub it over the grill grates with your tongs:

Isn’t this yummy? Now hit it with the wire brush and that pad on the other side of most grill brushes:

Now for the cooking method, there are two options here. Direct and indirect. We’ll go with indirect first. Place them on the side with no coals in a hot grill of around 325-350 and close the lid for 10-12 minutes, depending on the heat of the grill:

And here’s what they look when ready to serve, all I was looking for was the cheese to melt and the prosciutto to be good and warm:

See how the ham darkened? Look for that and take a peak in the end of the skewer to see if the cheese has melted and then plate them:

The other option is direct grilling; putting them right over the coals for no more than 2-3 minutes on each side:

Flipped:

No cross hatch here, they don’t need to be on that long.

So what was the verdict? Which was the best? The ones done direct got a little rubbery on the outside and the prosciutto tended to tear and fall apart because there was no fat left in the meat. The indirect ones sort of melted in the mouth.

The pecans, a suggestion of my Mother in Law after we made a couple batches, really added something to the recipe which was a great combination of sweet from the pear, salty from the prosciutto, savory from the cheese and crunchy texture from the pecan.

The best cheese was the smoked gouda with the asiago being the worst. The harder asiago didn’t melt well inside the wrap and didn’t have that wonderful gooey feel the other cheeses had.

We also preferred the grilled pears to the ungrilled, but that could be because I grilled the thicker slices. I’ll get into that next.

Don’t overdo the cheese and don’t underdo the pear. I was worried that the pear would overpower the appetizer so I sliced some really thin. The thinner slices were overpowered easily by the cheese. My corer divides the fruit into 8 wedges and I divided those four times with my knife that was way too thin. They would’ve been fine if I had only sliced them in half or thirds at the most if you need to make the last pear go farther than the others you use in the recipe.

So if you’re scoring at home:

Thicker, grilled pear slices
Add the nuts
Go with the gouda and skip the asiago
Do indirect for 10-12 minutes rather than direct for 4-6

 

[deguerre]

Excellent write-up. I love the combination. I've done something similar with tart apple slices.

 

[deguerre]

Bump.
Deguerre likes this.

 

[Ron_L]

Ronelle like this too :-D

 

[flyingv4me]

Thanks for the write up and pics. Neat idea!

 

[Ryan Chester]

Sounds and looks great!