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Lilybeetle
| | Posted on Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 07:57 pm EST : |   
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SQ - Your salad recipes are so delicious - I have to post this favourite of ours from epicurious.com The figs would make great appetizers too.
MESCLUN SALAD WITH GOAT CHEESE-STUFFED FIGS WRAPPED IN BACON
The aged goat cheese called for in this recipe is firmer than fresh and has a dry rind. Two kinds work best in this dish, Bucheron and Pouligny-St.-Pierre, both of which have just the right amount of tang — but ask at the cheese counter for comparable substitutes if you have trouble finding them. Cafe Pasqual's, in Santa Fe, serves its version of this dish — "pigs 'n' figs" — with blue cheese.
Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min
8 bacon slices
8 firm-ripe fresh figs, trimmed and halved lengthwise
1/4 lb aged goat cheese such as Bucheron or Pouligny-St.-Pierre
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 oz mesclun (4 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat broiler.
Cook bacon in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until most of fat is rendered but bacon is still pliable, about 10 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
Remove 1 scoop of flesh from each fig half with small end of a melon-ball cutter and discard. Scoop cheese with same end of melon-ball cutter and just fill each fig half. Press fig halves together to form whole figs.
Stir together brown sugar, cumin, and salt, then rub onto 1 side of each bacon slice. Wrap 1 bacon slice, sugared side out, around each fig and secure with a toothpick.
Broil figs, bacon sides up, on rack of a broiler pan about 3 inches from heat, turning them frequently, until bacon is browned, about 2 minutes. Cool slightly, then discard toothpicks.
Toss mesclun with lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste, then gently toss with oil. Serve figs with salad.
Makes 4 first-course servings.
It is expensive but well worth it. A dinner party of 8, the salad is around $20 - but very memorable and easy. The figs can be prepared ahead which is a bonus.
Read the reviews - you won't be disappointed.
Lilybeetle
- Ontario,
Zone "4B"
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Susanq
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| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 12:44 am EST : |
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I did read the reviews and knowing that you like it too
it must be amazing! I just wish I liked goat cheese!!!
Loving almost every other cheese on the planet it's one
cheese I've never been able to enjoy. Perhaps the aged
goat cheese, which I've never had, I'd enjoy more. I did
read that one of the reviewers substituted gorgonzola,
which I love. What do you think?
I'd love to try this for our next hosted gourmet group this summer.
SusanQ - Zone 4b-5b Wisconsin |
Monique
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| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 10:43 pm EST : |
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Susan..I am not a lover og Goat cheese but I think in this I would..Fred's crostini had goat cheese and it was delish..i think there is a goat cheese that taste like sawdust and a good one:)
Kim's would be the good one..And FIGS!!! That's the trick though..I can't get them all the time..
Plus.. doesn't everything taste amazing with bacon!
Monique Quebec Zone 5 |
Rosemary
My Weather
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 01:14 am EST : |
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There are different types of goat cheeses. Different brands can vary greatly. It's definitely a different taste, isn't it. I love it but I was raised on goat's milk. Blech.
Rosemary
- CT,
Zone "5"
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Sunnyday2day
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| | Posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 10:48 am EST : |
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When I bought goat cheese for the recipe I used for Valentine's Feast (steak) it came in a very small package (I'd say no more than 2 oz.) I used it all so I don't know the name of it but it was very good. But, it might've been the combination of meat, cheese and the indescribably wonderful taste of that balsamic syrup that made the cheese taste so good. Now someone could tell me provolone is good but I would have to disagree. 
SunnyDay2Day mid-Michigan Zone 5
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Ej
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| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 12:45 am EST : |
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Will give this a try when our figs come in season.
Ej So.Cal. Zone 10a
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