Bucherondin with Fig Purée & Pine Nuts

The best part of cooking is discovering beautiful flavors and textures. The second best part is playing with flavors and textures, being inspired and surprised. Yesterday I baked Fig-Walnut Bread from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. The recipe calls for dried figs to be plumped in boiling water, then puréed. This luscious paste is beaten into the quick bread batter, resulting in a sweet, moist loaf with the pleasant crunch of tiny fig seeds. I marveled at the deep purple color flecked with hundreds of golden seeds. I couldn’t believe how something so simple has eluded me all this time: I can make fig purée at home. This may sound silly, but I often gazed at the shining jars of expensive puréed figs in gourmet shops and it never occurred to me to make it at home. Part of the reason is that figs are not grown where I live, so I’m not used to working with them in the kitchen. By the time California figs make it to my Colorado grocery store, they always look so sad and overripe. Dried fig purée is a game changer in my kitchen. My mind is spinning with wonderful ideas of how to cook with this liquid gold.

The cheese plate seemed like a place fig purée would be right at home. Inspired by Christmas parties and festive cheese balls, I thought it would be pretty to spoon the figgy goodness atop a round of cheese, then sprinkle over some toasted pine nuts. I found a fantastic goat cheese called Bucherondin whose bloomy rind reminded me of a bûche de noël (the French Christmas cake that looks like a yule log). Bucherondin is a (widely available) goat cheese with a semi-soft, dense, and flaky texture. It ages from the outside in, developing a pleasantly earthy and pungent aroma over time. The piece of Burcherondin I picked up was at its peak, softening around the outer rim and slightly funky to the nose. The savory flavor of this cheese paired beautifully with the sweet fig. It’s an attractive combination of flavors, textures, and colors that would be a hit at any holiday party.

My tech savvy husband, Len, helped me put together a cute little stop-motion photograph to show you how this dish comes together. Just keeping things fresh and interesting here at la Domestique!

Making Bucherondin with Fig Purée and Pine Nuts

Bucherondin with Fig Purée and Pine Nuts

Ingredients

a section of Bucherondin or any semi-soft and savory cheese

dried black mission figs, stems removed, each fig roughly chopped into 4 pieces

water

pine nuts

Method

An hour before you plan to serve the cheese, take it out of the fridge to come to room temperature. The fig purée can be made the night before, just make sure you serve it at room temperature as well. To make the fig purée: bring water to a boil in a small pot. The amount of water you use will determine the thickness of the purée. My ratio was 1 cup of water to 1 cup of dried figs. Remove the pot from the heat and add the figs. Soak them for about 10 minutes, then purée the entire mixture using a food processor or handheld immersion blender. Spoon the fig purée into a jar until you are ready to use it. Toast the pine nuts in a skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown and fragrant, about 5 minutes. To serve the cheese: Place the cheese on a platter and spoon the fig purée atop. Sprinkle the pine nuts over. This cheese plate is delicious with red wine or Port.

Bucherondin with Fig Purée and Pine Nuts