Grilled Fig Toast with Whipped Stracciatella

Thanks again for signing up for my newsletter! I’m excited to share this easy and delicious recipe with you. Figs are in season in the Bay Area for just a few weeks in July before they take a month-long hiatus, only to return in full swing in August and September.

During this time, I like to harvest the fattest, juiciest figs to use for grilling. In this recipe I use black mission figs because of how deeply flavored and jammy they are, but any fig will do. Knoll Farms in Brentwood has delightful figs this time of year, and I love pairing them with Ramini Farms stracciatella.

If you’ve never heard of stracciatella, it’s actually what’s inside a ball of burrata! The only difference between stracciatella and burrata is that with burrata, the cheese inside (the stracciatella) is encased in a thin layer of mozzarella. I buy Audrey’s stracciatella by the GALLON for Greens, literally. If you don’t have a local source like Ramini, you can always buy a ball of burrata at your local market and it will work fine.

Ingredients

6 large fresh figs

1 8-inch wedge of baguette, halved

olive oil

salt

4 ounces stracciatella cheese (or use burrata)

1 tablespoon garlic confit (with oil)

Honey, for drizzling

1 sprig basil, stems removed

black pepper, for garnish

Method

Heat the grill over high heat.

Halve the figs and skewer them onto metal or wooden skewers. Drizzle with a small amount of olive oil, just to lightly coat, then sprinkle with some salt. Place cut side down onto the grill.

Halve the baguette and liberally oil both sides of the bread and then sprinkle with some salt. Place the baguette oiled side down onto the grill.

Cook the figs and bread until both are well-charred and golden brown, about 5 minutes each.

Remove from the grill and set aside.

Next make the whipped stracciatella. Combine the cheese and garlic confit together and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Spread the cheese on both sides of the baguette. Top with the grilled figs, then drizzle with honey. Tear the basil leaves into coarse pieces to garnish the figs with, then finish with fresh cracked black pepper, and, if desired, a pinch of flaky sea salt.