I love figs!

Growing up in LA we had a whole backyard of fruit trees, and the fig tree was my favorite. Not only was the fruit the tastiest, but the tree itself was the coolest looking one out of all the trees we had. My siblings and I would always climb it, trying to reach the precious fruit. On my most recent trip to LA, I was so ecstatic to find figs, that I even flew 15+ hours back home with them so that I could have them in Israel with me. Just my luck though, when I arrived in Israel, I saw the supermarkets were flooded with them. They were finally in season here too! Oh well, more figs for me!

Early on in my foodie days I came across the concept of putting cheese in figs, and it did not sound appetizing to me. Why ruin a perfectly good fruit?! When the next fig season came around (yes, even in New York, there are some fruits that fall prey to seasonality) my food palette had matured and I was ready to try the cheese and figs thing. I piped ricotta into my figs and drizzled with some honey and it was delicious! I was sold on the whole cheese and fruit thing.

Ever since that turning point, I have experimented all kinds of cheese on all kinds of fruit, like feta with watermelon and goat cheese with apricots. I then also tried broiling/grilling the fruit with the cheese and it realized that was a million times better. The cheese got all hot and melty with delicious browned spots, and the sweetness of the fruit became so much more prominent as the fruit became soft and mushy.

With most of my days spent at home working on my course and prepping for workshops, I need to eat lunch at home. I quickly grew tired of eggs. I basically had some variant of them almost every day, so when I saw the last of my Trader Joe figs, I decided to make lunch out of them! I had also brought back with me some Natural & Kosher cranberry pecan goat cheese and thought that would go perfectly with the sweetness of the figs and with the crunch of the pistachios I knew I wanted to include. I decided to break up the sweetness with something savory, so I went for balsamic vinegar and sage leaves. This was the perfect time to try out balsamic caviar (balls of balsamic vinegar) that I have been meaning to try!

This dish is perfect with the nine days coming up. It may seem a little fancy for your weekday lunch or dinner, but really it’s so quick to make, so it is definitely worth it! Why not impress people, especially when it takes no effort on your part? The caviar itself ended up being very time-consuming to make—not difficult, just a long process, so definitely skip that if you’re short on time and just drizzle balsamic over your plated figs instead. Happy eating! 

Print Recipe
 Goat Cheese Stuffed Figs
There are no exact measurements for this recipe, you can use less or more of all the ingredients.
Course Appetizer, Dessert
Prep Time 10 minute
Cook Time 5 minute
Passive Time 30 minutes
Servings
figs
Ingredients
STUFFED FIGS
BALSAMIC CAVIAR
Course Appetizer, Dessert
Prep Time 10 minute
Cook Time 5 minute
Passive Time 30 minutes
Servings
figs
Ingredients
STUFFED FIGS
BALSAMIC CAVIAR
Instructions
STUFFED FIGS
  1. Preheat the top broiler setting on your oven. Cut off the stems from the figs and make an X at the top of the fig, making sure not to cut all the way through. Place the figs on a parchment lined baking sheet.
  2. Place the goat cheese into a plastic sandwhich bag and cut the tip off the corner. Pipe the goat cheese into the center of the cut figs. Broil the figs for 5 minutes until the cheese starts to brown. Remove from the oven.
  3. Drizzle silan (or honey) in a crisscross pattern over your serving plate. Place some more silan in a bowl and the crushed pistachios in another. Dip the bottom of the fig into the silan and then into the pistacios. Place on serving platter, repeat with all figs.
  4. Stack the sage leaves and roll into a log, starting with the stem side. Slice the sage log very thinly to create a chiffonade.
  5. Top the figs with the sage, balsamic caviar, himalayin salt, and freshly cracked black pepper.
BALSAMIC CAVIAR
  1. Place the oil into a tall glass cup and place into freezer for at least 30 minutes. If you have time, leave it in for longer.
  2. Around 5-10 minutes before you want to remove the oil from the freezer place the balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan over a medium flame along with the agar. Constantly whisk the mixture until the balsamic boils. Pour into somethign else so the mixture can start to cool.
  3. Once the mixture has cooled (around 10 minutes) using a dropper, squeeze out drops of the balsamic mixutre into the cold oil. If you don't have a dropper, you can use a squeeze bottle with a small opening, it will just take longer. Leave the balls to harden for a few minutes, then using a spoon remove the balsamic balls and place into a very thin seive or tea strainer. Drop them into a cup of water to rinse and then drain again. Place in a bowl until ready to use.