Figs & Cheese

[VivreManger]

What cheese goes well with ripe figs? And is cooking the best place to put this question? I just found some wonderful figs and wonder what could go well with them.

I already have some manchego and some gorgonzola. I plan to serve the figs uncooked.

[sabg]

are they the small one bite size..cut in half, bit of goat cheese, warm them up and add a drop of reduced balsamic or good balsamic...i just reduce the cheap supermarket stuff...i had about 10 for the lunch the other day

[Carolyn Tillie]

I second Sabg's suggestion. Creamy, smooth goat cheese (not the kind that chunks apart), if you can find it.

Serve with Port. Yum.

[maggie Poppins]

Figs: My favorite fruit!

When I'm being extravagant, as I was for dessert two nights ago, I take a puff pastry shell -- bake it, when slight cooled, i put about 1/2 tsp of marscapone on the bottom of the shell. Then I lay in two sliced figs, dot with Point Reyes blue cheese, 1 slice of fig, cover with the puff pastry lid (askew for presentation).

I pop them in the warm oven (toaster oven as it's too hot to bake) to warm it slightly and get the cheese all soft.

Then I transfer the filled shell to a plate and garnish with two or three whole figs and dot around the plate some fig balsamic reduction (St Helena is the brand I believe -- I just reduce it myself).

It's fabulous!!!!

I do the same exact thing in the fall but with apples, and use a cherry balsamic and dust with cinanmon and sprinkle corse salt across the apples (that are used for garnish).

[Bicycle Lee]

I find that if the fig is to be accentuated, a goat cheese or blue is a little too overpowering...and that mascarpone is a little weak. If I were you, I would use Quark ( a German-style soft cheese). It is milder than goat, slightly tangier than mascarpone (although they are nearly the same consistency) and it has a gentle sweetness that would surely compliment the fig and not mask it completely.

The brand of Quark I have found around here is of the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company.

Hope this helps.

[Mayhaw Man]

Hay Queso (if you can find the real stuff) does nicely. Creamy goat cheese (as suggested above) is also nice.

I've got a ton of figs hanging on the bush right now that will be ready in about two seeks if the squirrells don't get them first.

[ingridsf]

Others may be right about the superiority of milder cheeses but I've never had any problem devouring figs with Castello blue. Castello's very buttery and if the figs are ripe Missions, they hold their own just fine.

[foodie52]

Figs: make a slit in them, stuff with Humboldt fog. Wrap in prosciutto.

[Swisskaese]

My great-grandmother had a fig bush in her backyard and I used to eat them until they made me sick. They are truly the fruit of the Gods.

I stuff my figs with a creamy Danish blue or gorganzola. Yum!!!! Now I have to go and buy some figs.

[johnnyd]

We moved to the Algarve when my Dad retired in the 70s. He built a little house and planted a vineyard. There were fig trees everywhere, one just outside the kitchen that was so huge we put a hammock in it. I slept there on warm nights and when figs were in season, I'd wake up with a few in my lap.

[culinary bear]

There's a phenomenal blue cheese from the Asturias region of Northern Spain, but sad to say it's not very well known outside of the country.

It's called Picos de Europa, after the Mountain range it's from, and it's sometimes known as "Valdeon" as the village which makes it is called "Posada de Valdeon". It goes stunningly well with both green and black figs; it has just the right level of saltiness and pungency to go with the base creaminess of the cheese... The figs add the fruity sweet element which seems to bring all the tastes together.

Posada de Valdeon is such a pretty village, too... I have pics from when I went there a year ago, if anyone would like to see.

[Swisskaese]

I forgot to mention that I drizzle honey over the cheese and figs!

[sara]

Warm brown country bread, spread with goat cheese and a slightly mashed fresh or canned fig on top. I'm drooling...Where can I find figs in DC--have they arrived??

[sabg]

Figs: make a slit in them, stuff with Humboldt fog. Wrap in prosciutto.

this sounds sooo good. do you warm them up?

[divina]

I sautee them in the drippings from my duck breast, and then drizzle with truffle honey! and serve as sauce!

If you have a tree.. you will have enough to cook!

we also do a fig and walnut Salame!!! meatless..

they mix chopped dried figs and walnuts together, and wrap them in fig leave. tie it and age it..and make fig salame... serve sliced with with cheeses!

Edited June 16, 2004 by divina (log)

[VivreManger]

Thanks for the suggestions.

No time to cook so I tried the fresh figs with two different cheeses.

I found the gogonzola too strong and overpowering so the fig was lost. In that sense manchego was better, but ultimately I decided that fresh figs were best on their own.

Still enjoying the four pounds I bought.

Edited June 16, 2004 by VivreManger (log)

[akwa]

aged gouda from holland is also excellent