Serves: 28 parcels
Chef Laura Pope has teamed up with Comté cheese to create these simply scrummy canapés… you won’t want to share them!
Delicious mouthfuls of filo pastry with a melting filling of Comté, prosciutto and sage, these take a little care and time, but they can be made in advance, then chilled or frozen and popped in the oven when needed – perfect for drinks parties.
Ingredients
- 270g pack ready-rolled filo pastry (you’ll have extra, but this is useful in case the fragile pastry tears)
- 100g unsalted butter, melted (leave it in the pan as you will probably have to put the butter back on the heat at intervals to re-melt it)
- 14 slices prosciutto ham (about 170g), cut in half horizontally (I leave the wax paper separating each slice and just cut through all the slices with a pair of kitchen scissors)
- 200g 12-18 month Comté, cut into 28 cubes (about 7g per cube)
- About 28 leaves of fresh sage (cut larger leaves in half horizontally)
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 180°C normal / 160℃ fan and line a baking tray with a sheet of silicone baking paper or lightly oil it.
2Place 7 sheets of filo pastry onto a board and cut into squares measuring 12cm x 12cm. Cover the squares with a clean, slightly damp tea towel (so they do not dry out). Lay 2 squares of filo on a board and brush with melted butter (go right to the edges), then lay one on top of the other at a 45 degree angle to make a 8-pointed star shape (you can do two or three at a time if you have the space).
3Take a cube of Comté and a sage leaf (or half a leaf) and wrap it in half a slice of prosciutto. Place a bundle of prosciutto, sage and Comté into the centre of the pastry star and draw in all the corners and sides to form a purse shape. Press well together to seal and fan out the top leaves.
4Place onto the baking tray, spaced apart (you will probably need 2 baking trays) and repeat the process to make the other parcels. (You can freeze or refrigerate them at this point if you wish to make them in advance and cook them later).
5To cook from chilled, bake for 15 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the cheese is melted inside (from frozen, cook for 20 minutes) and transfer to a warmed serving plate.
