Thursday, March 21, 2013

Port Infused Fig Blue Cheese Crostini | Friday Night Bites


I am obsessed with Crostinis! They are like a blank canvass begging to be painted on.  A great crostini can be your own "Mona Lisa".  Okay, I might be a bit dramatic, but you are picking up what I am putting down.  Smile.

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The flavor combinations are endless. You can get creative or stay simple.  You can brush with olive oil or simply toast them.  The secret to a great crostini is the bread.  I am in love with Semifreddi, ACME and Labrea Baking.  There is nothing better than fresh baked bread with a crunchy outside and delicious chewy inside that is rich with flavor.


With my other obsession, Fig Jam, I knew that I needed to create a fig inspired masterpiece.  In the fall, I canned about 60 half pints of Balsamic Fig Jam, so that I could enjoy it year round and give away as gifts.  Since fresh figs are unfortunately not in season right now, the next best thing is the dried version.  Luckily for me, they are available at Trader Joes year round in the dried variety.  To "plump" them up I cooked them in some port wine.  The port reduces and becomes sweet along with infusing in the dried figs.  The result is pure dedadence.  Would love to hear about your "crostini masterpiece" !!


Port Infused Fig Blue Cheese Crostini

Baguette
Point Reyes Blue Cheese
Dried Figs. sliced in half and remove stem
Port
Fig Jam (Homemade or Store Bought)
Walnuts, toasted

This is a very easy and loose recipe.  Slice the baguette to the desired number of crostinis and brush with olive oil.  Toast in the oven under the broiler until light brown on each side.  Let cool.

In a small sauce pan, add the desired amount of dried figs, use one to two halves per crostini.  Pour enough port to almost cover the figs.  About 1/2 cup for 20 figs.  Cook on medium until almost all of the port has infused the figs.  Let cool.

To assemble, spread blue cheese onto the crostini then a bit of fig jam.  Next place one to two of the port infused figs and adorn with a few toasted walnuts.  Enjoy.




17 comments:

  1. I loce crostinis and these look amazing!!

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  2. "...like a blank canvass begging to be painted on." So true! Fig jam and blue cheese sound like the perfect pair to decorate crostinis! :)

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  3. I absolutely love this crostini, Lisa! What a perfect use for your jam... the recipients are truly fortunate! :)

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  4. OMGoodness!!! My mouth is watering! I am going to have my own Friday Night Bites in Virginia featuring nothing but Authentic Suburban Gourmet recipes!!!

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  5. I love the blue cheese-fig match so much!!

    Lisa, could you possibly comment on the Point Reyes Blue Cheese, how strong/dominant its flavour is? Would it be a good idea to use Roquefort, or it'd be too strong and overpowering?

    I have Stilton home (which is not that dominant), plus Roquefort (we routinely make baby spinach+wallnuts+Roquefort salad on workweek nights)

    Thank you so much!!
    This sounds so delicious, that I can hardly wait for the weekend to start:-)

    All the best!!

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    1. Hello - If you like Blue Cheese then you would like Point Reyes. It is a bit stronger but delish. I contemplated and almost went with Stilton, which in my opinion would be tasty. Let me know if you make it and how you like it. Happy Weekend!!!

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    2. Lisa, thank you so much!
      I'm living and working in North Europe; unfortunately, Point Reyes is unavailable in my area (I googled for it and got the idea of the kind of cheese it is).
      So, I used Stilton, organic dried figs & fig jam,all easily available. The result exceeded my expectation!!
      Thank you again. I'm running a cooking workshop today, and I'm just about to make the spaghetti fritters; the pictures created a big impact on me...

      Thank you and have a good weekend!
      (Here, it's very cold.)

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    3. Stilton is a great choice! Glad you liked it. Good luck with your cooking class and happy Sunday!

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  6. I have never thought about it, but you are totally correct. They are like a blank canvas! Anything goes! Great looking idea.

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  7. What a awesome crostini! Lots of banngin flavors going on in there! Thanks for sharing :)

    Happy Blogging!
    Happy Valley Chow

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  8. I love these crostinis Lisa-looks like a few of these and a glass of wine et Voila..you've got a meal! I love all the bread you listed and love to pick up Acme at the Ferry Building! Have a wonderful weekend filled with crostinis of every persuasion ;-)

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  9. I love your crostini recipes--you always come up with the best ones. I'm already looking forward to making your fig jam this summer. Time to put what I learned to the test! :)

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  10. This is the way to start off the weekend!!! Beautiful platter - all the good things are here: figs, blue cheese, crostini...a symphony of flavours.

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  11. I love seeing your Friday night bites recipes because they are all so wonderful. Just what time do you start the bites because I want to drop by when I'm in town :)

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  12. I need to make more food like this. Whenever people come over, they get sweets and that's about it. To be honest, I didn't even really know what crostini were before I checked this post out. They sound interesting! :)

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  13. OM, this is crostini heaven for me! I am madly in love with figs too, and blue cheese is perfect with them. Such a wonderful bit Lisa!

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