Gorgonzola, Apple, and Prosciutto Flatbread & Nero D'Avola

An easy and delish appetizer (or dinner) with a uniquely amazing wine pairing!

This easy flatbread is the perfect app for any get-together! Easy to throw together, feeds a crowd, and is absolutely DELISH. The toppings are customizable of course, but the combination of gorgonzola, sweet red apple, salty prosciutto, and hot honey makes this the perfect pairing for Nero D’Avola.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on these links or choose to purchase anything through them, I may earn commission. Thank you in advance for your support!

---

What is Nero D’Avola?

Nero d’Avola is Sicily’s signature red grape, known for its bold flavours of dark cherry, plum, cocoa, black pepper, dried herbs, and a hint of chili spice! It can be anywhere from fresh and juicy to rich and structured with consistently bright acidity, making it a fantastic food wine.

---

The Pairing

I paired this one with the Mary Taylor AnnaMaria Sala Sicilia Rosso - a wine made by Sicilian sisters Anna and Maria Sala, and a label created by the badass Mary Taylor. I served this along with 2 other appetizers and women-made wines for a little International Women’s Day wine pairing lunch I hosted for some amazing new mamas (and their adorbs bebes), and it was just perfect. Here’s the post if you missed it!

---

---

---

The Mary Taylor AnnaMaria Sala Sicilia Rosso is a bright and beautiful Nero d’Avola that I can’t stop thinking about. It isn’t weighed down by oak (as many Nero D’Avola seem to be) which makes it a perfectly pure reflection of the grape. It’s fresh and medium-bodied (so not big and bold by any means) with bright acidity, soft tannins, and flavours of ripe black cherry, sweet wild berries, a touch of earthiness, and a hint of chili spiced deliciousness.

Why does this pairing work?

TBH this one was a gamble. The sweet and spicy thing with food is a huge crowdpleaser (for good reason) but it can be tricky to pair with wine! I thought this pairing would work, but I didn’t necessarily think it would be amazing. I was wrong - it was fantastic!

I chose this wine because I wanted a medium-bodied red that would stand up to the texture and flavour of the flatbread without overwhelming it, with high enough acidity to cut through the rich gorgonzola and bright fruit flavours to balance out the savoury cheese and prosciutto. This wine has allll of that, plus the added hints of chili spice to match the chili heat in the hot honey and herbal notes to match the arugula microgreens. SUCH a winning combination.

Here’s how you should serve this wine:

I highly recommend serving this wine with a bit of a chill on it! AKA put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes before serving. No need to decant or aerate it, but let people know that it will evolve in their glass as it warms a bit and is exposed to oxygen! The swirl and slurp are highly effective for experiencing allll the wonderful complexity found in this wine.

---

RECIPE: Gorgonzola, Apple, & Prosciutto Flatbread

Servings: 6-8 as an appetizer
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cook time: 15-20 minutes

Tools

• Baking sheet

• Hand mixer (optional)

• Wooden serving board

• Pizza cutter

Ingredients

*See notes for explanations and substitutions!

• Pillsbury Pizza Crust

• 1 cup (8oz) Gorgonzola cheese

• 1/4 cup full-fat sour cream

• 1-2 tablespoons 10% cream (optional for texture - see directions).

• 20-30 thin red apple slices (approx. 1 small or half a large apple)

• 5-6 slices (~100g) of Prosciutto, pulled into ribbons

• 1/2-1 cup arugula, arugula microgreens, or bitter greens of choice

• Drizzle of hot honey

• Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

• Flaked sea salt to taste

Directions

• Add gorgonzola and sour cream to a mixing bowl and blend with a hand mixer. Add 1-2 tbsp of cream if needed to reach desired texture. (NOTE: You can leave the gorgonzola cheese sauce a bit chunky like I did, or you can blend until it’s fully smooth if preferred).

• Remove pizza crust from the can and stretch out onto a baking sheet. (I like to spray my baking sheet with oil! See notes). Top pizza dough with gorgonzola cheese sauce followed by rows of thinly sliced apples.

• Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted and bubbly. (*Check after 15 minutes)

• Remove from the oven and transfer to a your cutting board/serving board. Top with prosciutto ribbons, greens, a drizzle of hot honey and extra-virgin olive oil, and then finish it off with flaked sea salt if desired.

• Cut into desired shape - I like to cut flatbread into small rectangular pieces when serving it as a appy - and enjoy!

Notes

• Pillsbury pizza crust is my go-to for easy pizza/flatbreads. I find it so flaky and tasty, and it’s EASY. Just an FYI - I don’t think it says to spray the baking sheet first, but I always do. I’ve had one devastating situation where my pizza stuck to the pan, so I shall now spray. always.

• I bought a wedge of Gorgonzola that was about 8oz, but this measurement doesn’t have to be exact. If you have a smaller amount, just add a bit more sour cream to up the volume!

• I recommend using a red apple variety for this recipe since it complements the flavours of the gorgonzola so well! I used a honey crisp apple, but you can use whatever you have available to you.

• For the greens/microgreens, I would usually use arugula, but I found arugula microgreens and was inspired! Use what you have available to you, but bitter greens like arugula add a nice balance of flavour and texture to the flatbread (along with the sweet, salty, and spicy).

• Hot honey isn’t the cheapest, and I have yet to find a brand that I love as much as my homemade stuff! All I do is heat up regular honey for 30 seconds in the microwave (about 1/2 cup), add 1-2 tbsp of chili flakes, and mix it up. You can use it right away, but the longer it sits the better it gets! I let it sit on the counter and heat/stir it up every couple of hours to help the flavours meld.

• I was recently introduced to Maldon Sea Salt and now I put that shit on everything. SO GOOD.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!!

xx Steph