Smoked Fig and Blu di Bufala Crostini
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My wonderful friends over at The Cheese Store of San Diego always keep me apprised of the latest and greatest in cheese deliciousness. This month, one of their featured cheeses is Blu di Bufala, a buffalo milk cheese from Italy that is decadent, sweet and slightly nutty flavor.
And it’s AMAZING. It’s my new favorite blue cheese; not as salty as blues usually are, slightly sweet and definitely addicting!
I grabbed a bunch of black mission figs at the farmers market as well, and thought blue cheese and figs would work well together. Then I decided to smoke the figs, because everything is better smoked. If you don’t have a stovetop smoker, I recommend you get one immediately
FMITK’s resident beer enthusiast Natalie recommends pairing this crostino with a nice scotch ale like Ale Smith’s Wee Heavy.
You’ll need some blu di bufala, figs, an onion and a baguette. My favorite baguette in San Diego is from Bread & Cie. Not pictured: butter, lime and sea salt.
Blu di bufala – sweet, slightly nutty, very decadent and super addicting!
Quarter the figs. Fig season is so short, so I’m getting the most of them while they’re around!
Put about 1 1/2 tbsp of applewood chips in the bottom pan of the smoker. Place the figs in and smoke for 10 minutes.
These smoked figs would also be a great addition to salad.
Cut slices of baguette on a bias and toast lightly. Get step-by-step instructions for the caramelized onions here.
Top the toasted baguette with some blue cheese – a lot or a little, depending on how much you love blue cheese. I did about a tablespoon per toast.
Top with some caramelized onion.
And 3-4 slices of smoked fig.
Finish with a little squeeze of lemon or lime juice and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt.
Devour!
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 8 oz fresh black mission figs (about 10 figs)
- 1/4-1/2lb Blu di Bufala or your favorite blue cheese
- 1 baguette
- 1/2 lemon or lime (optional)
- sea salt
- applewood chips
- For the caramelized onion: Step-by-step instructions here. Thinly slice the onion. In a stainless steel skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add in onion and stir to coat. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to turn golden brown, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook an additional 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are a deep golden brown. Season with sea salt.
- For the smoked figs: Remove any tough stems from the figs and quarter. Smoke using 1 1/2 tbsp applewood chips for 10 minutes. see notes below.
- Assemble the crostini: Lightly toast biased-cut slices of baguette. Top with some blu di bufala; depending on how much you like blue cheese, this could be 1 tsp or 1 tbsp - my preference is closer to 1 tbsp. Top with about 1/2 tbsp of the caramelized onions, and 3-4 slices of smoked fig. Finish with a squeeze of citrus (I used a lime) and a sprinkle of sea salt.
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