Weekend Update

I suppose that most of you are counting down the minutes until you can leave the office today. (157!) Unless you left last night? Lucky! I had the opportunity to spend the weekend at the beach, but I've squandered it to be locked up in my apartment reading and memorizing everything there is to know about sparkling wine. It would be better if I was also sampling everything I needed to know about sparkling wine, but I'm not sure about the quality of my information retention if I did. Maybe I could give it a try...

Anyway...since I won't be doing anything exciting this holiday weekend, all I have are memories of the past weekend spent tromping through the woods with Carmeliza and friends. (The mosquitos are already out BT dubs!) Since we spent ample time hiking and working up an appetite, we hit up a local butcher for provisions so that we could hang out at the house to grill and chill.

We started by sampling four sparkling wines. (There were four of us and I had to study!) Luckily the rain held off, so we grilled up a ton o' meat products starting with some hunks of pork belly cooked up with fresh figs. Can't go wrong with some pig & fig! We followed up the pig with some cow and grilled up some super tasty rib eyes that were drizzled with the rendered pork fat from the cooked pork belly. Oh yes we did! What will you be grilling this weekend??

Miss Figgy

I somehow managed to come home from work with a pint of fresh figs, the way others might come home with some extra Post-It notes. I thought that maybe I would make an interesting, quasi-healthy salad, but then quickly realized what a mistake that would be. Figs lend themselves to being lathered in cheese and shrouded in pork. Dinner!



Here's all you need to enjoy a tasty dinner, devoid of any vegetables (my healthy vows are commonly short-lived):

Prosciutto Wrapped Figs

Fresh figs, sliced in half
Cheese, such as Manchego or Valdeon (a Spanish blue)
Prosciutto
Balsamic vinegar

First, preheat the broiler. Place a piece of cheese on the cut side of a fig half. Wrap the fig and cheese with a piece of prosciutto (about 4-inches long - you don't need to use an entire slice). Repeat with the remaining figs. Meanwhile, simmer about 1/4 cup of vinegar until reduced to a thick syrup, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Broil prepared figs for about 2 minutes per side, until the prosciutto begins to crisp. Keep a close watch to avoid burning. (Do not take a phone call or use the restroom!) Remove to a plate for serving. Drizzle with the balsamic syrup. Enjoy immediately without a salad. Serves as many as you'd like.