This is totally finger food for parties, or a really nice starter. It's quite quick, but a part of it needs to rest, so it's best to start the day before.
Ingredients:
200gr cooked ham
100gr cream or soy cream
160gr philadelphia cheese or other fresh creamy cheese
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
350gr grated parmesan
30gr of finely chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp olive oil
Tools:
You will need 4 shot glasses, which you'll prepare bottom up and very lightly brush with olive oil (keep the oil and the brush at the ready)
Have plenty of kitchen paper at the ready
Method:
Ham mousse for the filling:
Dice the ham and blizz it in the kitchen mixer with the cream
Add the philadelpia cheese and the black pepper
Blizz until nice and creamy
Store it for a minimum of 4 hours in a covered jar in the fridge
Parmesan baskets:
Using a non stick pan heated at medium heat without any grease, heap 4 Tbsp of grated parmesan keeping them quite separate from each other and flatten them a little keeping a circular shape
As soon as the parmesan melts, there will be some holes forming while it bubbles, so add a 1 tsp p of parmesan on top to fill them - cook for 1 or 2 mins
Remove from the heat and using a thin spatula squeeze the edges of the circles so that they get nice and tidy - wait 1 min
Bring the pan back on the hob, and flip them carefully on the other side
Cook for 1-2mins
Remove the pan from the heat, then using the spatula carefully lift each of your circles and drape them on the bottom of your oiled shot glasses
Using a sheet of kitchen paper folder in 4 (to protect your hands from the heat), carefully but quickly press the circles onto each shot glass to get into shape
Leave the baskets to cool, while you wipe the pan with kitchen paper and pour other 4 heaps of parmesan on it
While this next batch cooks on the hob, delicately remove the baskets and set aside
Brush just the bottom of the shot glasses with a little more olive oil
Proceed to remove from the heat the circles, again bringing them to shape, and when cool enough flipping on the other side
Continue like this for all your batches until you finish the parmesan
Assemble your baskets:
Wash and finely chop your parsley and set aside
Get the ham mousse from the fridge and fill each basket
Decorate each basket with a little chopped parsley
TIP: to make it look really nice, you could use a piping bag with a jagged nozzle to fill in the baskets
TIP: do not refrigerate the baskets, as they'll get rubbery; fill the baskets just a couple of hours maximum before serving