The Fig Toastie

The fig toastie is not exactly a classic, but it does always pop up on cheese boards. It goes well with cheese, and after a suggestion from my brother while we were staying there we thought it deserved a try. Plus vegetarian toasties that don’t feel like they are missing meat are a bonus, and this felt like it might be a worthy candidate.

Fig Toastie the First

–  Ricotta

– Runny honey

– Sliced figs

Fig Toastie the Second

– Brie

– Crispy Pancetta

– Sliced Fig

Taste.

The First was a little sloppy, and needed more fig, because all you really got was a honeyed ricotta toastie. This was still very pleasant, but mouthfuls where the fig popped up were much better. Extra fig would almost certainly solve both the sloppiness and the flavour, perhaps getting some toasted almonds in there to mix things up. Either way this was pretty tasty and might crop up in some form later. 7/10

The Second replaced honey with pancetta,and although under normal circumstances everything should be improved with bacon, it just didn’t rumble with me. The problem here is that pancetta just get’s carried away and overrides everything else. Unless we put a whole wheel of brie in each and filled every available space with figs, you would only get baconiness. While this is no doubt still a pleasing flavour, it’s not what we’re after when it’s a fig toastie we’re going for. 5/10

Appeal

Assuming the First toastie goes forward for more development, I think it could be a tempting offering. Your average veggie is usually faced with the same 4 choices over and over, so the adventurous might well give it a whirl.  Especially with some toasted nuts. If you’re into that kind of thing. 7/10

Suitability as a signature.

Figs in this country are never going to be as good as in the Mediterranean. We do have some amazing local honeys (although the jury is still out over whether Yorkshire or Warwickshire honey is best) but the figs will always be lacking. 2/10

Difficulty Rating

If you can find figs then you can make this toastie. It’s well worth it.

I’m impressed to have found one of only a very few combinations that are not improved with the addition of bacon. So far only brie, tomato and fresh basil and the mushroom rarebit toastie have succeeded here. We may well we bringing the First combo to an event near you soon.