A sweet, salty, spicy appetizer for the holidays!
One of the best things about Fall is that it’s PUMPKIN season! I adore pumpkin. Pretty much anything that has pumpkin in it, I’ll try (except if it has licorice or coconut in it). I can’t tell you how disappointed I was that most of the pumpkin products from Trader Joe’s were discontinued after Thanksgiving.
When my friends Paul and Diane, hosts of the monthly “First Saturday Dinner” in Manhattan Beach, asked for dishes to complement his magnificent paella (he made THREE KINDS!), I suggested this dish. Since they’re Italian, I knew they’d love the prosciutto. As an appetizer, it covers the sweet and the savory, the salty and the spicy. And of course, the yummy!
They don’t take a long time to make and the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and fresh thyme explodes on your taste buds. Give ‘em a shot.
Fall is a season that calls for a lot of entertaining, and this recipe fits the bill as a party-perfect hors d’oeuvre. The sweetness of the spiced pumpkin purée-ricotta mixture is well-matched with the saltiness of the prosciutto. And good luck holding yourself back from eating too many and ruining your appetite for the main meal.
Pumpkin-Prosciutto Crostini: Perfect for Thanksgiving!!
Ingredients
- ½ baguette, sliced into ½-inch-thick slices
- Butter spray
- One 15-ounce can pumpkin purée,
- 3-4 tablespoons fresh ricotta
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Salt and white pepper, to taste
- 5-6 slices prosciutto
- 3 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped, and extra for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet, and place in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until lightly toasted, and set aside. I like use butter spray as they cool to stop them from getting too crunchy.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the pumpkin purée, ricotta, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix together until smooth.
- To assemble the crostini, slice strips of prosciutto, about ½ inch thick. Sprinkle the fresh thyme on the toast. Leave just a bit for a topper. Putting this on first stops it from falling off the crostini! Then, on top of that spread the pumpkin mix on the toast. Take 2 of the strips of prosciutto and lay across the top, so each bite of these 2-bite appetizers has a strip to itself!
- Use the rest of the thyme to sprinkle on top, if you wish. These taste fantastic with a little Prosecco. Just sayin'.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!
