Falling For Figs

This past Sunday, The Single Guy Chef went on the road to visit my friend Stella. She has a young fig tree in her backyard and it has been bearing quite a bit of fruit this season, despite being only 3 years old. So I went over to do a test kitchen coming up with fig recipes.

Now, Stella loves to bake. I do not. It's not that I have anything against baking, but I just don't eat a lot of baked goods. I'll eat it periodically, but not often because it's really not that healthy for you. So since I don't eat it that much (they're so rich in butter and sugar), I don't really bake that often. I'm actually hoping that Stella will do a guest blog in the near future with some of her favorite baking ideas since I'm not a big baker.

But in honor of Stella and figs, I decided to create something using puff pastry. I've never used puff pastry before, but anything that you can just get out of the freezer section and start using is fine by me. Again, not a baker, so I'm not going to go through all the trouble of kneading dough and such.

We had so much fun creating fig recipes, Stella's 3-year-old son joined us. I think we have the making of a future single guy chef! :)

The two recipes below are the results of our work Sunday. The first recipe is a great appetizer for times when you have a small dinner party of six people or so and you want to serve something as people arrive. (It's also a nice light dinner with a glass of pinot noir.) This is sort of a hybrid pastry and flat bread. It's shaped like flat bread but made with pastry dough. That's why I couldn't think of a better name. I love the flakey crust and the sweetness of the figs blending with the savory tastes of the cheese and prosciutto.

The last recipe is great for times when you're invited to a party (it's the party season coming soon!) and you never know what to bring. This will be a great appetizer that's bite-sized yumminess that will make you the popular single guy/gal. Everyone will want to talk to you as the fig melts in their mouths with the warm cheese and prosciutto wrapped in the bit of puff pastry.

The fall brings such beautiful fruits. I talked about the pomegranate earlier, and now the fig is so fantastic. You can get black mission figs in California till about the end of November, so jump on these seasonal recipes!