Mindy Carlson

I have been crazy busy. Last night was the Parent Social for E’s school. A cocktail party that gives that parents a chance to connect with each other and meet the newest members of our school. It is a fun time and features some great food.

I was on the planning committee this year so I went out to Costco and bought some supplies and non-alcoholic beverages. I was also to bring a savory appetizer to share. I was sort of kicking ideas around and then I went to Trader Joe’s and found a huge container of figs. I was so excited! Figs are a wonderful fruit that beg to be cooked. I wait for their season all year and I was super excited to find such a huge amount for cheap just a few days before the parent social.

And I got to do one of my favorite things. Search the web for recipe ideas.

When I was visiting Shaun in Colorado earlier this year she took me to a restaurant where they served a fig, goat cheese, and prosciutto pizza with some mushrooms on it. It was totally delicious and I decided I wanted to something like that.

But I had a ton of figs so I decided to find another recipe. I’d always wanted to make figs stuffed with blue cheese and since I was already buying prosciutto for the pizza I could use it to wrap the figs as well. Yay!

I used one of my favorite pizza crust recipes of all time. It takes an hour to rise, but you don’t have to knead it.

1 tsp active dry yeast
1&1/2 cups warm water
4 to 4 &1/2 cups flour
6 T olive oil
1 tsp salt

You put the yeast in the warm water and get it to dissolve. While the water is doing it’s magic you bust out your food processor (with a metal blade) and put the flour, oil, and salt into the bowl. Blend it for a few seconds to mix it and then add the yeast/water. Blend until the dough pulls away from the side (about 6 seconds). It will be slightly sticky. If it seems to sticky add more flour and blend again for 1 or 2 seconds. Put the ball of dough into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for 60 minutes.

This makes 2 pizza crusts. I divided it in half, and rolled it out into a rectangle for my pizza and then topped it. You can top it any way you want. You can bake it in a spankin’ hot oven at 525 degrees on the lowest rack of the oven. If you like a crisper crust you can increase the temp to 550 after you put the pizza in the oven. Regardless, bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Done! Eat! Enjoy!

For the Fig, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese “Flatbread” (That is the secret of flatbread. It’s really a pizza in disguise.) I used this totally awesome and delicious recipe.  I even topped with arugula to really dress it up.

People seemed really impressed.  Not one bite was left at the end of the night.

A word on the honey used it that recipe:  I used it.  I put some honey on a spoon and really lightly drizzled it all over the figs.  I think I used a total of 1/4 tsp per flatbread.

Now, for the figs stuffed and wrapped with beauty I used this recipe from Rachel Ray. I’m not a big RR fan, but this was a great, simple recipe that made an appetizer worthy of the most highfalutin caterer.

Ingredients

• 12 fresh Mission figs, trimmed of any hard stem
• 1/4 pound gorgonzola cheese, cut into 12 pieces
• 12 slices prosciutto
• Honey, for drizzling

Preheat over to 450 F.  Make a cut in the fig about half way down – leaving the fig whole and the bottom intact.  Stuff the blue cheese into the cut you have made. Wrap the prosciutto around the fig and pin it in place with a toothpick. Drizzle with honey – I used a spoon to make sure I didn’t glop the honey onto it.  Bake for 8 minutes and done!

The prosciutto sort of fries around the fig and holds in the cheese that is getting somewhat melty.  They come out sizzling and look like little bombs of deliciousness.  Everyone was just so freakin’ impressed. It took all of 10 to 15 minutes to make 24 ( I doubled the recipe for the party) and only 8 – 10 to cook. So, so, SO easy!  Plus they are great slightly warm or a room temp.  I will totally be making these again.

Sorry for a lack of pictures this time.  We were in a rush and then people ate them all.  Maybe next time!