Hey all …. it’s fig season again down here in SoCal and I just love figs. As a kid my mom never bought figs, other than maybe a newton, but somewhere along the line I picked one up and munched on it and have since become a fairly big fan. I highly recommend you grab some figs next time you are at the market and create some wonderful appetizers.
Figs are super good for you – I always think foods that have great color variety must be good for you – and of course, figs fall into this category. I don’t want to bore you about all the vitamins and benefits of figs, but will say they contain: potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorous, iron, manganese, zinc, nickel, copper and vitamin K…. and you can read more about the different kinds of figs here.
If you google fig appetizers you will see a rift of fig and cheese (all varieties), baked, roasted, grilled, or even fresh on crostata / bread… Below I’ll share with you a couple of super simple ideas. I hope this post helps you to create something wonderful – with the most basic of ingredients.
You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces—just good food from fresh ingredients
Julia Child
Trader Joes Haul
i was over by trader joes the other day and popped in to see what was around – and that is how I found out it was fig season! There was a huge display of figs. I was so happy. What else to pair with them? How about scrumptious heirloom tomatoes ? Figs go very nicely on a charcuterie board. Sometimes figs can be under-ripe and need a boost with some honey… so don’t forget to add a small dollop of honey on the charcuterie board if you are making one !
While we are talking about TJ’s – don’t you also love the variety and reasonable prices for TJ’s cheeses ? I could browse for 20 minutes and look at all their cheese varieties … but then my little voice comes up and says – pick one, maybe two and go now ! ha. Speaking of cheese…
What is Burrata ?
A friend had asked that I contribute a plate of Caprese salad for dinner – so of course needed some burrata – the King of mozzarella. If you are not familiar with burrata – I need you to be. 😃 It’s delicious. It’s amazing. It’s something you MOST DEFINITELY need to try, if you haven’t already.
Burrata is made from fresh mozzarella thats formed into a pouch and then filled with mozzarella curd and if that weren’t enough, they add cream and the result is called stracciatella. So it’s yummy fresh mozzarella with little additional bits of mozzarella curd and cream. Yes, very indulgent and very good. This is a cheese that you probably don’t want to cook – and instead will eat raw. Get yourself a nice baguette to snack on and you are in heaven. Maybe a glass of wine to rock it out. Reminder…strongly encourage homemade baguettes, my recipe is here.
Can you Buy Stracciatella ?
Another tidbit in case you didn’t know. TJ’s sells a container of just stracciatella – in the dairly and cheese section – it’s labeled Burrata Filling in big letters and underneath says stracciatella. So if you want to be super indulgent get some of this and be on your way to best host / hostess ever!
This time I was able to pass by the stracciatella and just grabbed some blue cheese (with figs, mmmm) and some burrata…
So what should we make ?
Idea 1: Figs, Burrata, Heirloom Tomatoes with fresh basil and balsamic vinaigrette
Simple is often the best approach. Sliced fresh and delicious heirloom tomatoes, sliced figs, and some burrata. I finally got some basil planted in the backyard and always have EVOO and all kinds of vinegars so we set for a beautiful summer plate of apps.
If you don’t have any basil – pick some of that up at TJ’s or your local grocery. The ingredients are so simple, so fresh herbs are fairly important.
This is definitely something you can make quickly and easily. Basically slicing and plating fresh food. There’s no recipe. Get out a tray and start slicing / chopping / designing.
I had some extra tomato balsamic vinaigrette in the fridge – from my tomato salad recipe. That recipe is here. You could simply drizzle good olive oil and a tad bit of balsamic… (on the tomatoes). You could also use a drizzle of purchased balsamic reduction.
Add some coarse sea salt – so your friends / family catch a crunch on the cheese / tomatoes. Chiffonade some fresh basil. S&P. Wha La !
Idea 2: Grilled Figs with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto
This app is in regular rotation at our house. You can buy the package of prosciutto at TJ’s – and there are 8 slices in the package. Or you can go a bit more economical and get the larger packages (2) from Costco. I’ve been known to buy from Costco and then freeze my prosciutto – so I always have some on hand… You never know when a fig might show up or a pizza may need to be topped… However, as I was showing up last minute with figs needing to be cooked at 5pm, I had to buy more prosciutto!
Step 1 – Cut figs down the middle, but NOT in half:
I like to use take out chopsticks to help me when cutting the figs. Chop the top off the fig and then slice through the middle of the fig – but NOT all the way to the bottom. Use the chop sticks as a stopping mechanism to prevent you from going all the way through the fig.
Step 2 – Stuff the fig with some Cheese:
We typically use goat cheese or blue cheese in this instance. If we are having steaks for dinner we like to have blue cheese. If we are drinking red wine – again blue cheese. If we are having white wine typically do goat cheese. You could do whatever makes you happy. Just note – the cheese will get melty on the grill and we have only ever tried goat and blue. You could try something else – let me know how it goes !!!!
PS – you are going to get messy doing this bit – use your hands… it’s quicker.
Optional Step 2.5 – Stuff the fig with some ROASTED walnut PIECES:
If you have walnuts – you could chop some – just a couple of table spoons are needed – and roast them ever so slightly (350 degrees for about 5 minutes). Watch them closely to ensure they don’t burn. Nuts go from perfectly roasted to burnt in about 3.5 seconds…
OK – you might think you want whole walnuts, but you can’t pop one of these figs in your mouth in one go – so you’ll have to cut them. Cutting through the fig / melty cheese / whole nut makes it messier than it ought to be. So, rough chop the nuts, or buy walnut pieces and save a buck or two.
Step 3 – Wrap Proscuitto around the Fig and Use a Toothpick to Secure:
Carefully unravel the prosciutto from the paper and fold it in half, lengthwise. Roll the prosciutto around the stuffed fig and secure it with a toothpick.
Step 4 – Grill:
The key to grilling figs is to get the prosciutto crispy and the flesh of the fig fruit to be fully cooked without burning the bottom or loosing all the cheese.
Dave has had best luck with medium high indirect heat. Typically 8 – 12 minutes depending on the size of the figs. Dave places the figs directly on the grill – emphasizing again – not directly over the fire – but on indirect heat.
You know that they are done when you pick them up with tongs they give a little bit – indicating the fig is cooked – and the cheese is just starting to melt away.
Step 5 – Drizzle with Balsamic Reduction and Serve !
Idea 3: Grilled Fig Salad
This one is basically the grilled figs above, with balsamic vinaigrette dressed arugula under the goat cheese or blue cheese grilled figs.
One time in Chicago I was feeding these grilled figs to a chef who was nearly a sommelier (Boy I have nerve, don’t I ???) and he said – you know, if you put this on some dressed arugula it would be a fancy restaurant salad….
Of course – we prepared our grilled figs over dressed arugula next time… and it was delicious and more filling. And then later we were traveling to Sonoma CA for a wine tasting vacation and wouldn’t you know, the restaurant we were at was serving literally cheese stuffed grilled figs over arugula… We were certainly validated that we knew what we were doing in the kitchen, thanks to our neighbor!
Idea 4: Crostini, whipped feta and figs
Of course, I would suggest making your own baguettes and then lightly toasting them. For ease of reference, my recipe is here. If you want to purchase a baguette – no judgement – we all get busy sometimes !
Whipped feta – couldn’t be easier. The most economical way is to buy the giant container of feta from Costco. If running to your local grocer – a smaller container of feta is probably the same price… Grab a block of cream cheese (low fat cream cheese or neufchâtel is also fine) at the grocery.
Zip up equal parts room temp feta and room temp cream cheese in your baby food processor or use a metal whisk and add olive oil minimally – just to smooth consistency. (4 Tbl Feta / 4 Tbl cream cheese / 1 Tbl EVOO). Consider if you want to add a smidge of very small minced garlic (1/2 tsp) and or 1/2 tsp dried basil.
Toast the bread, spread some whipped feta on the toast, top with sliced figs and then drizzle with honey. YUMMMMY. Sorry – no pic on this one either…
OK – Hope this was helpful for you guys and you pickup some figs. I’ll be working on my fig pizza recipe soon enough to get that out there for you. Even the non fig eaters have eaten that pizza and exclaimed WOW and had great surprise at how good it was…. 😀