Happy 145th birthday Canada
This weekend Canada will celebrate its 145th birthday. To mark the occasion we have a quick and versatile recipe good enough for an elegant starter, a snack or potluck.
Family style
I serve this up family-style on a bed of mixed greens with chopped tomato and crostini. Include some basil leaves in the salad along with some other interesting greens like arugula. The crostini are simply oven toasted slices of bread that are then rubbed with a clove of fresh garlic, drizzled with your best olive oil and sprinkled with salt.
If you want to jazz up the chopped tomato, season them with a pinch of oregano, thyme, salt and pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil. Mix them up and let them macerate for about 20 minutes.
- 5 or 6 (depending on the size) of thin slices of Prosciutto di Parma
- 10 fresh bocconcini of mozzarella
- 20 small fresh basil leaves
- 3 or 4 ripe tomatoes
- dried thyme and oregano
- extra virgin olive oil
- mixed fresh salad greens including some basil and arugula
- 6 slices of bread of your choice
- 1 clove garlic
- To prepare, cut the prosciutto into strips lengthwise about 1" wide.
- Take one or two basil leaves and place them on the bocconcini and then wrap the strip of prosciutto around the cheese and basil forming a tight little bundle.
- You will not need a toothpick if your prosciutto was sliced properly, nice and thin.
- When you are ready to eat, preheat a non stick frying pan with a touch of olive oil over a medium high flame.
- Have your platter ready with the salad piled in the center and the crostini arranged around the outside.
- I use the olive oil and juice from the tomatoes to dress the salad lightly.
- Working quickly, place the bocconcini in the hot pan and sear for about one minute on one side and then flip them to lightly sear on the other side for one more minute.
- The cheese should just start to melt and the prosciutto should be golden, not too brown, with the sides still uncooked.
- Place the bocconcini on the salad and drizzle any oil from the pan over the greens.
- Garnish the plate with the chopped tomato.
This weekend we also celebrate A Cook Not Mad’s first year. Thanks for sticking around and reading our stories. We hope you’ve enjoyed them and continue enjoying them. If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear from you.
We’re always looking for more followers so keep spreading the word, we appreciate it.
Happy Canada Day! And Happy 4th of July to our U.S. followers (we didn’t forget about you).
cristina says
oh this is heaven for me! Prosciutto and bocconcini, what a great combo. Prosciutto was particularly a staple for me in my household growing up. I wish I learned how to make it homemade myself. I do also absolutely love your picturesque window sill, just like a lil Tuscan apartment I could imagine myself living in! (sigh)
A Cook Not Mad (Nat) says
They’re perfect for this hot weather, simple and fast.
tessa says
Happy Canada Day and Happy 1 Year Anniversary to A Cook Not Mad. It’s breakfast time chez moi and if I had bocconcini I’d be making this. Any special cooking plans for today’s game? Stephanie
A Cook Not Mad (Nat) says
Happy Canada day! We had sausage with peppers and onion and a nice green salad, vinaigrette was olive oil, balsamic and truffle honey, so good!
Elyse says
Nice Pomo in the pic 🙂
A Cook Not Mad (Nat) says
Ode to the Pomo, sadly, that was the last bottle 🙁