Figs and Bacon with a Honey Glaze

I made these appetizers a week or so ago after the farmer's market finally having figs. Unfortunately they weren't the best figs ever. A little mushy and some even had mold on them already (how did I not notice that before buying them?!). I was a little disappointed with their flavor as well, not quite as sweet and... figgy as I was hoping, but before this I had only had fresh figs twice before, so I'm probably not the best judge. I'm hoping that they're better the next time I'm there.



I looked all over taste spotting to find a "recipe" for a sweet/savory thing to make with figs and all I came up with was prosciutto and figs, which (don't get me wrong) sounded lovely, but I had just purchased some delicious looking bacon from the farmers market as well. I decided to just go with it.

What I ended up doing was wrapping a half a slice of thick thick bacon around a fig. Then I cut the fig into quarters at the top and filled it with a honey glaze. The honey glaze just had ginger and cinnamon in it. I felt like the glaze might have over powered the figs, but it made for a pretty good combination that I'd like to perfect sometime.



Recipe (it's pretty simple):
2 tbsps honey
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 figs
1 slice bacon

1. Cut the bacon in half lengthwise so that it isn't taller than the fig
2. Wrap the bacon around the fig and secure it (I used hemp twine because that was all I had)
3. Heat the honey, ginger, and cinnamon together until fragrant and runny.
4. Open up the top of the fig and pour the honey glaze inside
5. Broil until the bacon is cooked

It All Started with a Starter

It all started with a starter. My mom (once again) started a sourdough loaf a day or 2 before the 4th this year. She's done it a couple of times before and it has been hit or miss. The starter usually gets a crust on top with a liquid on the bottom and that's been it - just never been quite sure what to do with it. But this year she had an inspiration that came in the form of a stone oven.
On the 3rd we got to enjoy a lovely dinner with some people around the neighborhood that was focused on pizza baked in this oven:

While we were there Mark (who runs this blog: The French Broad) told us that the oven would continue to be hot for the next couple of days and we should stop by with a loaf of bread. We promptly set on baking a loaf of sourdough bread in that oven, and we succeeded! Although the oven was a little too hot for bread (note the extremely dark exterior) and the starter didn't create quite the typical sourdough taste, the bread was still delectable, and baking it in an outdoor oven wasn't half bad either :)