Soup and....Figs?? Plus BIG BOY BEDS!

Oh, I've done it now. I was at the Farmers Market, and they had fresh figs (no way were those local, but they must be in season somewhere as they were cheap...a pint for under $5!)

I decided to make figs with goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto with a drizzle of honey on top. I was inspired by this recipe, but that called for the figs to be wrapped in grape leaves. Why would I wrap something in leaves when I could just as easily wrap it in meat? I made a ton of other changes, but I did get the idea of fig/goat cheese/honey combo from the linked recipe. Here's my version:

Ingredients:

5 fresh figs, washed and halved
1/2 log of goat cheese (I used herb and garlic, as it was left over from my beet recipe)
4 slices prosciutto
Honey for drizzling

Directions:

Preheat broiler.

Layer a slice of goat cheese on top of each fig half. Wrap in prosciutto (I used about 1/3 slice of prosciutto for each fig half). Place on broiler-safe baking sheet.

Broil until prosciutto begins to brown and cheese begins to melt (about 5 minutes for me, but I'd recommend checking every minute or so).

Remove from broiler and drizzle with honey.

These figs were SOOOOO good. Really amazing. I've got to appreciate a recipe that matches fruit and meat so beautifully. It's not every day you can make a recipe like that (remember that Friends episode where Rachel misread the trifle recipe and put meat in the dessert? That doesn't count!)

Oh, now I'm thinking about it, and I do have a recipe sitting in my inbox for beef and peach pie. I've always been curious about that recipe, although never curious enough to actually try it. And I guess you can mix pineapple and chicken pretty easily. Actually, chicken goes pretty well with lots of fruits...blueberries, strawberries, cranberries. Oh heck, maybe a fruit/meat recipe isn't all that unusual. Do you have a favorite you'd like to share?

And I have to give a quick "eat local" shout-out to Crystal's Maine Wild Blueberry honey. This is the best honey I've ever had. It has a really distinctive flavor, and is so delicious. I've also tried their Cranberry honey, which was good, but not as good. Here's a page that lists where it's sold.

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I served the figs as an appetizer, and had Kale and Bean soup as the main course.



I followed the linked recipe pretty closely, and thought it wasn't quite soupy enough. I'd probably add more liquid, or less kale in the future. Even so, it was good. TK and I agreed it was a really hearty meal and very filling.

We have another dinner's worth of the soup in the freezer. Maggie, I don't know if you'll read this before you get here, but I know you said E likes soup...think she'd eat this one? I'd be impressed...maybe she could teach my boys, who totally ignored it.

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Random unrelated thought, our boys are growing up so fast edition:

Here they are, our boys' twin beds.


Isn't that set up ridiculous? I don't know how we're going to set up their room. We're handicapped by the fact that the roof slopes in on both side, making it too low-ceilinged to put their dresser anywhere but directly in the middle of the long wall of the room. That's why there is one bed that runs sideways.

And do you like how you can see the (totally chewed up) crib just in the very front of the picture? We had both cribs jammed in the room for a day, too. TK took them down this morning. Happy Independence From the Crib day!

N-man has fallen out of bed every night so far, three nights total. Last night when I went in to his room after he'd fallen out of bed, he said, so disgusted with himself, "Mommy, I did it *again*!" It's okay, honey, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it one day.