A nice mission fig appetizer for the season!
There are hundreds of roasted mission fig recipes on the internet. Many of the recipes use ingredients that simply overpower the flavor of the mission figs. I never could grasp what many California chefs try to accomplish by breaking every cooking rule and overpowering a featured item. Some of the worst California roasted mission fig recipes smother the roasted figs with a strong flavored fondue or strong tasting cheese. The flavor of the mission fig then struggles to be noticed! Most of the poor quality recipes make the mistake of using far too many ingredients and the list of ingredients turns into the featured flavor instead of the mission fig. Many of the photos of the fig recipes look like the figs were roasted to smithereens! The highest percentage of roasted mission fig recipes are California recipes. There are a few nice recipes in the bunch, but most of the rest fall into the category of self righteous California cuisine! East coast chefs, european chefs and midwestern chefs know what I mean by this statement. California chefs tend to market food for wine country Californians. Many wine country Californians do not care about delicate flavors, tradition or refined cooking techniques, because they are usually only interested in peak climactic flavors. I just got through working for a California sous chef in a very run down resort in Death Valley for my first six week externship. The sous chef had almost as much time in kitchens as myself, but he had never cooked in traditional east coast style kitchens or been through formal classic cuisine training. East coast fine dining is the same as european fine dining. Every east coast item that is cooked follows strict classic recipes or is created within the bounds of classic technique rules. For example: A Italian pesto is actually a paste. In both europe and the east coast, an Italian pesto is a paste. To a California chef that has never had formal training, a pesto is a loose runny cream sauce, with chopped herbs and a bunch of liquor or wine in it. Say what? Needless to say, I did not learn anything new during my first 6 week externship at the tourist trap resort in Death Valley. I really only relearned all the shortcuts and cooking techniques that I was classically trained not to do! Tourist trap resort style food really is just open up a can or thaw out pre-cooked vacuum sealed food, then make it look halfway appealing to the eye. Any first year cook can make that kind of food. Classic definitions of sauces and cuisine can be tossed out the window, because California resort tourist trap food is made in an anything goes atmosphere. Perfection food it is not! I will be doing my second 6 week externship in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is far from europe, the east coast, asia and the rest of the world, but the food in Las Vegas is made with classic authentic ingredients and classic cooking techniques. Las Vegas is close to California, but the cuisine is far more traditional and innovative than most California cuisine. The reason why, is because the greatest chefs worldwide have restaurants in Las Vegas and they chose highly trained executive chefs or chefs de cuisine to represent their food. Las Vegas is rated as the number one fine food destination in the world and this town has the highest number of Michelin Star rated restaurants to boot. Las Vegas is a good place for a chef to learn something traditional or something new! Today's roasted fig appetizer recipe has easy to identify flavors. The figs are roasted to perfection and they are not mushy from over roasting. Italian fontal cheese is famous for complimenting fruit flavors. A piece of fresh basil compliments the fontal and fig flavors. A thin small partial wrap of smoked bacon is all that is needed to add a touch of rustic smoked meat flavor. The garlic cloves were roasted lightly with the figs and they add a gentle roasted garlic flavor to the skewer. One little piece of parsley and green onion add crisp fresh gentle complimentary flavors. Modena balsamic chocolate ganache? It has been done before with critical applause! Chocolate ganache can be made like a pudding consistency, an icing consistency or a chocolate truffle consistency. The rich balsamic ganache keeps the roasted fig skewers stable on the plate and it acts as a decadent dipping sauce! Aged balsamic vinegar from Modena Italy has a rich savory deep fruit wine aroma and flavor that helps to marry the chocolate ganache to the roasted figs! This is a well thought out appetizer that truly features the flavor of the roasted figs without overpowering the fruit flavor. This is a good example of the style of food that I will be expected to prepare during my second 6 week externship at a restaurant that run by Le Cordon Bleu executive chefs and master chefs. Interesting! By the way, this tasty appetizer is not difficult to make!
Blanched Smoked Bacon: The bacon must be blanched before wrapping the figs, or the figs will roast for too much time while the bacon cooks! Heat a saute pan over low heat. Add 2 thin strips of smoked bacon. Gently grill the bacon on both sides, till the fats start to cook and the first sign of golden highlights appear. Place the blanched bacon strips on a cutting board and cut them in half. Set three of the best looking half strips of bacon aside and save the fourth for another recipe. (Or simply munch on the extra fourth half of a bacon strip!) Smoked Bacon Wrapped Mission Figs stuffed with Basil and Fontal: In America Fontal cheese is called Fontina. In Italy, the finer grades of Fontina cheese are called Fontal! Remove the stems from 3 mission figs. Cut each mission fig halfway down from top to bottom, like in the photograph above. Place a thumbnail size piece of fresh basil in each mission fig. Place a garbanzo bean size nugget of fontal cheese in each mission fig. Gently squeeze each mission fig back into shape. Drape the blanched smoked bacon over each mission fig and run a toothpick through the mission fig, so the toothpick fastens both ends of the bacon. Place the mission figs upright on the center of a roasting pan. Drizzle a tiny amount of olive oil over the mission figs. Sprinkle 1 tiny pinch of sea salt and white pepper over the mission figs. Place 3 small garlic cloves in the pan near the mission figs. Roast the stuffed mission figs in a 300 degree oven, till they plump up and till the bacon becomes lightly browned. The balsamic chocolate ganache can be prepared while the figs roast!
Aged Modena Balsamic Chocolate Ganache: Only a tiny amount of good aged balsamic vinegar is needed to flavor the chocolate ganache. Chocolate actually carries the balsamic flavor nicely! Choose a good bitter sweet coveteur chocolate when making ganache. Coveteur chocolate has about 35% cocoa butter returned to the cocoa, with no paraffin wax, carnauba wax, gums or cheap vegetable oil substitutes. This is the best chocolate for ganache or for tempering chocolate. Only 2 to 3 tablespoons of ganache is needed for one serving of this fig recipe. The basic French cooking technique that is used to make a large amount of ganache is also used to make a tiny batch of ganache. Ganache is simple to make! Place 2 1/2 tablespoon of small chopped coveteur chocolate in a small mixing bowl. Place 2 1/3 tablespoons of cream in a sauce pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon of aged Modena balsamic vinegar. Add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Place the pot over medium/medium low heat. Bring the cream to a gentle boil. Slowly pour the hot cream mixture over the the chopped chocolate in the mixing bowl, while slowly whisking. Continue to whisk after all the cream mixture is added, till the ganache is whipped to the icing stage. (The ganache should have a rich pudding consistency.) Set the balsamic ganache aside.
Smoked Bacon Wrapped Mission Figs stuffed with Basil and Fontal on Balsamic Chocolate Ganache: Place a small dollop of the balsamic chocolate ganache in each section of a divided appetizer plate that has three sections or on a standard appetizer plate. Remove the toothpicks from the smoked bacon wrapped stuffed mission figs. Place a short bias cut piece of green onion top on 3 hand tied bamboo skewers. Place one roasted garlic clove from the roasting pan on each skewer. Place an Italian parsley leaf on each skewer. Position the items on the skewers just above where the tops of the mission figs will reach on the skewers. Pierce each smoked bacon wrapped stuffed mission fig with a skewer at a slight angle. Place each mission fig skewer upright on the 3 dollops of balsamic chocolate ganache.
Viola! A modern appealing roasted mission fig appetizer with a very nice range of complimentary flavors. The sweet succulent fruity flavor of the roasted mission figs is noticeable and not lost. The balsamic chocolate dipping ganache is to die for! Yum! ... Shawna
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