It became fashionable with the Nouvelle Cuisine trend, at good restaurants in France, to serve at the start of a meal, bite sized dishes of food to tantalise diners’ tastes with compliments of the chef. Named an “Amuse-Bouche” this translates as a mouthful of food that pleases or tantalises the taste buds. I decided that I could also use this term in my recipe for a bite sized sweet dish served at the end of a meal, or to go with a coffee, as the taste is tantalising and the portion small. With the arrival of my delicious range of French jams, I created a simple recipe with small layers of flaky pastry, spread with some of my divine American cream cheese (made from fresh cream and milk) and a layer of fig jam or some slices of fresh figs. Wine pairing was difficult as the figs have a lovely fresh taste, the jam is sweet and the cheese is really creamy so I think that a chilled, sweet Petit Guiraud Sauternes from the Bordeaux region is probably a good combination, alternatively a well chilled San Leo Brut Prosecco, which is a fraction off-dry, sparkling wine from Italy could also work well. This is a really easy peasy recipe, looks very attractive and tastes delicious.
Ingredients for 4 people:
- 200g American cream cheese from the French Market shop
- 1 jar of Preserve de Figue (French fig jam)
- 200g/ 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
- Icing sugar to sprinkle over top
- 4 fresh figs
1 Bottle of Petit Guiraud Sauternes or San Leo Prosecco from the French Market shop
Directions:
- Preheat oven to manufacturers recommended temperature ( between 190 and 200C degrees
- Defrost the pastry sheet
- Slice the sheet in half then each half into 6 even rectangular slices
- Prepare a non stick baking tray.
- Cook the pastry for 20 – 30 minutes until well risen and golden, watch it does not burn
- Remove from heat and allow to cool
- Use a fork to mash the cream cheese to soften it a bit
- Slice the figs in quarters or thin slices
- Using a very sharp knife, slice the risen pastry rectangles in half lengthwise
- Place halves with cut side up
- Use half the quantity of slices as follows :
- On the cut surface of one half of the slices spread the cream cheese very carefully as the pastry tends to break
- Spread cheese with 2 teaspoons of fig jam
- Place the other half of the pastry (not spread with cream cheese) on top
- Sieve icing sugar over the top of the pastry so that the top is white
- For the other half of the slices:
- Spread cream cheese on the cut surface of all the slices
- Decorate the tops with slices / quarters of small figs
- Drizzle fig jam over the top of the figs (if you wish to leave out any sugar don’t include this)
Serve them on a platter, alternating the different styled slices, with a glass of San Leo Prosecco or Petit Guiraud Sauternes
Bon Appétit!