Fig Bread / Pan de Higo

Well, I won't be going to Spain or Portugal this year (like my lucky sister), but that won't stop me from eating pan de higo (fig bread), with 12-month manchego cheese. 


Manchego is made from sheep's milk and has an intense complex flavour.  You can buy 3-month and 6-month queso manchego, but it's worth springing the extra couple of bucks for the 12-month for texture, colour and flavour. The price is as much "out of this world" as the flavour.  



Paul and I first tried manchego at Casa Mono in New York.  (It's a funky little restaurant with an authentic Spanish wine list and a sommelier who sounds a little like Antonio Banderas and is not at all hard on the eyes.)  In Vancouver you can get it at the very smelly, but tasty, Les Amis du Fromage, near Granville Island. But I digress.

Fig bread is a crazy expensive weakness of mine. The last time I went to buy it, it cost 10 bucks for a small piece so I just couldn't justify it. I went home found some recipes and made it for a fraction of the cost - olé.

I make mine in little bowls but I've seen them molded in muffin tins, or even just a free-form loaf shaped by hand.

Serve with a Spanish wine. 


Pan de Higo

1 pound dried figs
½ cup almonds (toasted)
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Cinnamon, to taste
1 tablespoon honey
Brandy, as needed to bring the mix together

Spread nuts in one layer on ungreased baking pan.  Bake at 350º, 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden.

Toast the almonds and grind them in the food processor, pulsing gently until the almonds are chopped, but stop before they turn to a paste. The pieces should be of varying sizes.

Clean the dried figs, removing the stems, and mince them in the food processor.

In a bowl, mix the almonds with the figs, ground cloves, sesame seeds and a dash of cinnamon, to taste. Stir in the honey and just enough brandy to hold the mixture together, mixing well to evenly distribute the seeds and the liquid.

Line a small bowl or muffin tins with parchment paper.  Press the fig mixture into the molds.  

Cover with a weighted plate on top to compress it, and let stand in a cool dry place for several days to dry it out.

To remove from molds, run the tip of a butter knife around the edge, 










then pull up on the parchment paper.  

Turn upside down on a plate.