Don’t you adore dishes that taste as good as they look? Not only do these Warm Apple & Caramelized Onion Crostini with Fontina & Crispy Prosciutto live up to their looks, they make for a perfect appetizer that’s sure to please all your apple-loving friends!
This is a sponsored post on behalf of Crunch Time Apple Growers. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make Ciao Chow Bambina possible.
When one is invited to create a recipe using SnapDragon® apples, courtesy of the ever-so-bountiful New York State Apple Country, one doesn’t mosey, one bolts at the chance.
The SnapDragon® apple, known for its ‘monster crunch’ and spicy-sweet flavor, is a new apple developed by Cornell University’s apple breeding program. How cool is that? One of its parent apples, the Honeycrisp, helps make this beauty a perfect bite. A splash of water, a soft towel, a gentle polish, and I promise you’ll be hard pressed to find a sweeter, juicier, crisper, healthier snack.
However, for those snack-times that require more, there’s no denying the delight that caramelized onions, fontina cheese and crispy prosciutto bring when paired with a zippy SnapDragon® and toasted harvest bread to create a gorgeous autumn-inspired crostini.
If you’re a regular visitor to CCB then you know I’m feeling all the feels right now. Warm apples? Caramelized onion? Fontina? Prosciutto? Crostini?
I’m crying.
This is the kind of nosh that works wonderfully as an appetizer while dinner is bubbling away on the stove, but it also works beautifully as an entree…
Trust me – I’ve made toast my main dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner more times than I can count….and this….this apple crostini….well this is fine dining in my world.
There are a number of ways to prepare bread for crostini. You can:
- toast it (in a wide-slotted toaster)
- broil it
- grill it
Today I’m using the broiler method. It toasts up quickly and leaves gorgeous singe marks around the edge which play nicely with our flavors.
The apples and onions can be sautéed together in one pan while the prosciutto gets crisped up in another. Once the bread is toasted, you’ll distribute the apple mixture evenly on the slices. Top the apples and onions with fontina, then place under the broiler one more time for a quick melt. Once the cheese is melted, remove from the oven, top with crispy prosciutto bits then get ready…
…to cry…
…’cause it’s that good.
Wondering where you can find SnapDragons®? You should start seeing these delicious apples at farmers’ markets throughout New York State within the next few weeks, and in stores nationwide by mid-October! Stay tuned for additional updates on the new SnapDragon® website.
Buon Appetito!
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Warm Apple & Caramelized Onion Crostini with Fontina & Crispy Prosciutto
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Appetizer
Description
Don’t you adore dishes that taste as good as they look? Not only do these Warm Apple & Caramelized Onion Crostini with Fontina & Crispy Prosciutto live up to their looks, they make for a perfect appetizer that’s sure to please all your apple-loving friends!
Ingredients
- Caramelized Onions
- 1/8 cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 3 large yellow onions, chopped
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- Apples
- 3 SnapDragon apples, cored and diced (do not peel)
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 8 slices of prosciutto, crispy
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 8 – 12 oz. fontina cheese, shredded
- 8 slices dense harvest bread (I used apple cider & golden raisin bread)
Instructions
- For the onions, place olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium-low until butter melts.
- Add the onions. Let them cook, stirring occasionally, until they are light golden brown.
- Add the salt and sugar and continue to cook and stir until they are soft and golden, about 45 minutes.
- While the onions are doing their thing, prepare the apples. In a medium bowl combine diced apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, sugar and cayenne.
- Add apples to the onions and sauté until apples just begin to soften. Remove from heat and set aside.
- To crisp prosciutto, preheat a skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbsp. olive oil, place slices in pan and cook for about 3 minutes, until crispy.
- Remove from heat, let cool, then break into small bite-sized pieces.
- In the meantime, preheat broiler.
- Place bread on top rack and toast for about a minute then flip and toast for another minute.
- Remove crostini from the oven and place slices on a sheet pan.
- Top crostini with a small amount of shredded fontina, then the apple mixture, and more fontina.
- Place back under broiler until cheese melts, about a minute.
- Remove from oven and top with crispy prosciutto bits.
- Serve warm.
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