February 2004 - Fig and Goat's Cheese Tranche

Figs, figs everywhere. February is the month for figs. There are all sorts of recipes in many magazines this month that use them. My grandparents have a fig tree and have had plenty of them, which they are giving away left and right. I got some from them last year and made my own fig jam. It is lovely but I don't tend to eat a lot of jams. From the amount of it I have made in the past 6 months you would think that I eat it all the time. I make it for Christmas presents but I ended up with way more than I needed. I now have jars of strawberry, spiced peach, nectarine & brandy, fig and apple & ginger jams on my shelf to be used to.

The recipe that I chose, Valli Little's Fig & Goat's Cheese Tranche, used fresh figs, which I picked from my grandparents tree only an hour before I used them, and also used some of my stored fig jam. It also allowed me to use up the rest of the goat's cheese I bought for the Beetroot, Goat's Cheese & Walnut salad I made earlier. While it was very nice and made for a good lunch, I am not sure it will feature on my menu again. It was a bit too sweet for my liking. I think that it would have been nice to add some thin slices of prosciutto crumpled up on it before baking. Although it would no longer be vegetarian and I try to eat a certain amount of vegetarian meals each week. It saves me some money and is good for me. To add a bit of pep to this one I drizzled with a chilli honey that I purchased from The Honey Farm in Tasmania, they have some excellent products for sale on their website check it out if you get a chance.

Fig and Goat's Cheese Tranche

Serves 3

Ingredients

• 1 block (375g) puff pastry (I used one sheet of ready-rolled)
  
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup good-quality fig jam
• 120g soft goats' cheese
• 1 tsp chopped rosemary
• 3-4 ripe figs, cut into wedges
• 1 tbs honey

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180 C.
  
• For the pastry, since I used a ready rolled sheet I didn't have to roll it out much. I just folded the sheet in half and rolled slightly to press it together. Place on a baking sheet and brush with the egg and then prick with a fork.
  
• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then place another tray on top and bake for a further 10 minutes.
  
• Set aside to cool for a few minutes while a your grill heats up to medium-high.
  
• Spread cooked pastry with jam top with goats cheese, rosemary and figs.
  
• Grill until cheese is starting to turn golden.
  
• Remove from grill and drizzle with honey.
  
• I served with salad greens.