Late summer brings one of my favorites fruits – figs. I’ve noticed that fresh figs are extremely expensive in the grocery store. Luckily for me, my dad is one of those strange Italians that has fig trees so I can enjoy figs for free. Sometimes I actually have too many since they don’t last long once they are ripe. When this happens, I simply chop them up and cook them to make fig preserves.
This year I decided to be creative in the kitchen and combine two of my favorite things – fig preserves and grilled cheese. I think the pairing turned out pretty tasty, so here’s the “recipe”:
First, you’ll need a bunch of fresh figs to make the preserves. I had about twenty and used both black and white figs. Remove the stems and then chop them all up. Put them in a small pot with some water and let them cook over low heat. I added about a teaspoon of both sugar and honey for little extra sweetness.
Keep cooking the figs until they become a chunky paste, stirring regularly to make sure the bottom doesn’t burn. That’s all you need to do to make fig preserves – as easy as homemade applesauce! It’ll keep in a sealed container in the fridge for at least a week.
Now on to the fun part…time to build a sandwich!
I used whole wheat rolls, but really any crusty type of bread will do. I went with the whole grain because my healthy conscience momentarily won out in the grocery store.
Next, slather on the fig preserves on one side.
Then pile on the cheese and ham. I used a mild gouda and goat cheese. (I’m so glad that I can finally enjoy goat cheese again –who knew pregnant ladies can’t partake in goat cheese and brie? If I’d known beforehand, Owen might not be here today.) Make sure to use a good quality ham, like prosciutto or serano ham. I used a smoked ham to add an extra dimension of flavor.
Then pop the sandwich in a heated panini press and grill it until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden and toasted (or leave it in there too long so it’s a bit burnt like me – oops!).
The sweetness of fig preserves with the tanginess of the goat cheese and the smokiness of the ham went well together. I think it would be even better with some arugula greens, but I was too cheap to buy some (I do have an extra mouth to feed now). Didn’t stop me from enjoying my sandwich…
And then for dessert we had figgy pudding. Just kidding. 🙂
This sounds very interesting. Now that I’ve had figs I like them. Nothing like a fig newton. Still i’m not sure about the sandwich. However, I would be willing to try it!