The coolest thing in my garden has to be our fig tree. It was my Mother’s Day present seven years ago (there may have been some guidance there). The thing is, I never really expected it to produce figs; that just seemed too exotic for the Nashville climate. It took a couple of years, but now we have figs almost all summer long.
The first time I had a fresh fig I was in college and a friend returned with some from their home in Mississippi. I was amazed; I’d never seen a fig that wasn’t a dried brown shriveled thing from a package. The real deal was marvelous. After that I scanned grocery stores and markets for fresh figs only to be mostly disappointed. Finally I saw figs at one of the outdoor markets here in Nashville and the farmer told me that some varieties do indeed grow here. The kind of fig tree I have is a Brown Turkey. It grows in a pot, but MUST be moved this fall- it’s gotten huge. This tree is currently producing so many figs that we can’t eat them all everyday even though we are definitely fig pigs (ha!). We’ve made fig pizzas, fig preserves, fig ice cream and even fig muffins. Still the best figs are always the first ones we harvest and enjoy immediately on garlic toast with a cheese that is a bit of a splurge, balsamic reduction, good honey, arugula from the garden, and marcona almonds. You may be thinking I’m pretty mean to write about an ingredient so difficult to find, but I would never do that. Fresh figs seem to show up quite regularly now. They are at several groceries including Trader Joe’s and at many of the outdoor markets. This particular dish is just an invention that came from the thrill of first harvesting our own figs. It makes a great appetizer, light lunch, a salad course for a fancy party, or perhaps even a dessert if you’re feeling continental. Maybe I’m overstating the versatility. I guess what I mean to say is that I like this so much I would eat it anytime. I hope you do too!
Ingredients
8 figs
French bread – 8 thin slices
2 tbsp melted butter
½ tsp garlic salt
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tbsp local honey
Cheese of choice – current crush, Cambozola which is a triple cream with a hint blue cheese, but any nice Gorgonzola will work, or any good blue cheese
½ cup arugula (I forgot to add it before pictures, sorry)
2 tbsp marcona almonds
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Wash figs, slice in half and set aside.
Mix butter and garlic salt and brush on both sides of bread slices.
Place bread on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes until lightly brown and crisp.
Put vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and boil over medium high heat stirring occasionally to reduce by half. This takes about five minutes and can be done ahead of time and refrigerated. We keep this around for salads and garnishes since it seems to last forever.
Place four toasts each on two plates.
Top each toast with a bit of cheese and a fresh fig half.
Sprinkle arugula and almonds around the plate and drizzle with balsamic glaze and honey. Beautiful!
