Baked Figs and Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Pecans

When a farmer from In the Red showed up at Chef and the Farmer with his unusually creamy goat cheese back in 2006, I committed to buying thirty pounds a week to help keep him afloat. Then I had to figure out what to do with all that cheese. This crowd-pleasing share plate was born out of that delicious dilemma. Fresh figs get topped with goat cheese, caramelized onions, and pecans, then baked until everything gets warm and melty. It's got all the satisfaction of those bacon-wrapped, cheese-stuffed figs you see everywhere, but it's a lot easier to pull off. And if you want to add bacon on top of the pecans—or use both—I won't stop you.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups figs, sliced into 1/8 inch rounds
2 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 tablespoon butter
R-Rated Onions
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces fresh goat cheese
1 cup roasted pecans

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, carefully stir together the figs, brown sugar, orange zest, and orange juice. Set aside.

Stir the figs into your R-Rated Onions to thoroughly combine. Transfer that mixture to a 2-quart baking dish and top with the crumbled goat cheese. Press down a little with your hands or the back of the spoon to make sure the two meet and mingle.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes on the middle rack of your oven. Once the dish is done, the edges should be bubbling but the goat cheese will not necessarily have melted into the mixture and lost its shape.

Take the baked, fantastic stuff out of the oven, shower it with pecans, and let it sit for 5 minutes before smearing it on the best crostini you can toast. Pro-tip: toast your crostini in a flavor bomb, like bacon fat.