My favorite recipe in Grill Every Day isn’t a recipe at all: it’s an off-handed comment in the liner notes for a grilled fig salad. Grilling a fresh fig is one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-that ideas – it’s got enough substance to survive a quick sear, plenty of sugar for caramelizing, and rich enough to take a little bit of char and smoke without losing the fruit. The salad pairs the figs with grilled green beans and a walnut vinaigrette, but the author casually mentions that grilled figs pair well with Manchego and a drizzle of honey. And good heavens is she right.
I’ve taken that idea and taken it from charcuterie side to a light dessert, the line between the two being admittedly blurry. I’ve substituted mascarpone for the Manchego, stolen the walnuts from the author’s salad, and added some smoke to the honey. In writing this I can think of a dozen other variations – using a rich port reduction instead of the honey and a good quality smoked bleu cheese, or with a smudge of cream cheese on a thin rice cracker and flaked sea salt. Once you taste the grilled figs the wheels in your head will probably start turning, too. Have fun.
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Ingredients
For grilling the figs:
For the final assembly
- 6 oz good quality mascarpone
- 2-3 Tbsp smoked honey (see notes for sourcing or making smoked honey)
- 20-30 walnut halves
- crushed red pepper
Instructions
- Prepare your grill for direct grilling over medium heat. Hold temperature for 5-10 minutes before grilling to ensure that the grate is as hot as the fire.
- Brush the figs all over with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Grill flat side down for 1-2 minutes - you want visible grill marks without cooking the whole underside. Turn the figs over, cover the grill and cook for another minute. Remove the figs from the grill and let cool for 10 minutes.
- When ready to serve, put a thin layer of mascarpone on individual, chilled serving plates. Place the figs flat-side down in the mascarpone and add an equal number of walnut halves. Drizzle with smoked honey and top with a pinch of crushed red pepper.
Notes
Smoked honey can often be found at fancy grocery stores – Bee Local brand seems to be popular in the Pacific Northwest.
If you’re feeling adventuresome you can smoke your own honey. If you’re comfortable with the basics of smoking meat then this recipe at Vindulge can walk you through the basics. If you’re not no need to be intimidated – it’s not a brisket and doesn’t require much technique or even fancy gear. The important part is to make some smoke and keep the honey in contact with said smoke for several hours. A cheap option is a ‘smoking tube‘ or a ‘smoking snail’ which are stainless steel mesh trays that hold a couple of hours of fuel (usually wood pellets or sawdust). You place them in a cold charcoal grill or gas grill along with whatever you’re trying to smoke and shut the lid. They’re a little bit finicky and the smoke is uneven, but – again – it’s not a brisket. You’re just trying to get a little bit of smokiness into your honey, and it’s hardly an exact science.
My weapon of choice is the Breville Smoking Food Gun. It’s basically a miniature hairdryer with a tiny smoking tray and a long, rubber tube but it’s amazing. The ads will tell you that you can use it to make ribs or smoky burgers or whatever, and in a million years that might be true, but this thing is purposebuilt for cold smoking. Cheese, oil, honey, smoky cocktails – that sort of thing. It comes with small jars of hickory and applewood chips that seem like they’ll last forever.
Step-by-step instructions for smoking honey with the Breville Gun can be found here.