Grilled Figs, Pancetta & Basil: Hello!



Instead of tossing the unripe figs from Trader Joe's the other day, I decided to put them in a grill pan and see if they would sweeten up.

They did.


I had some great pancetta and attempted to wrap the figs with a thin slice of the bacon, but my pancetta slices were not big enough, so I just laid a small piece of pancetta underneath each fig half.

If you are lucky enough to have good pancetta, use it, otherwise you can use a half slice of bacon for each fig half and wrap it around the fruit.


I placed the halved figs in my favorite grill pan flesh side down, for about 6 minutes, until the pancetta was cooked, then flipped them over (not the easiest thing to do), and cooked them another 3 minutes until bubbling and juices flowing.


Now that the flesh was nice and soft, I pushed the little piece of pancetta into the fig using my finger, so it stuck in there, then wrapped each little morsel in a big fat basil leaf from my garden and drizzled with magic balsamic syrup.


Oh wow.

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Comments

Ciao Chow Linda said…
Good save Stacey. I've eaten this at a restaurant in California and loved it. I can imagine how much better it would be with really ripe figs.
Zane and Van said…
Hi Stacey! Nice blog you have here. Found you through Food Blog dot com. We'd love to recreate this recipe unfortunately, we don't have figs in our area. We're thinking of a substitute for that. Love how you take food photos too ;)
I agree, good save! That's my pet peave when you get a bunch of unripe figs. Sometimes I dollup each with fig jam then grill. This is a beautiful combination and presentation!
Noelle Marie said…
A perfect bite and no bread!! You are the fig queen! These looks great and simple.
Oui, Chef said…
In my world, bacon makes EVERYTHING better!
GroovyDulcet said…
Mmmmm....looks so delish!!!!!