Alex deserves complete credit for this recipe -- he invented it from scratch and the internet. We set a bunch of these out on a plate before dinner with some friends last night, and they disappeared within seconds. We re-plated about 10 times, and had to force ourselves to stop there.
In technical terms (we've been reading Michael Ruhlman's The Elements of Cooking, which is as humbling as it is inspiring), the spread is a food-processed reduction. That means we basically cooked figs in some stuff for a while, and played with our favorite toy some more. The spread is designed to be sweet, but the pomegranate juice lends it a light tang, and it all goes perfectly with the creaminess of the cheese.
We didn't intend it, but the colors make it perfect for holiday hors devours. Bring the beer. We mean cheer.
Ingredients:
12 dried figs, chopped
1 cup wine
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
3 lemon slices
2 tbsp honey
Instructions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer the mixture for 15 minutes, until only a bit of liquid remains. Remove from heat, remove the lemon slices, and let cool. Spoon the mixture into the food processor (a blender would probably work as well) and pulse until smooth. Spread over crackers (preferably multi-grain) and top with miniature slices of blue cheese.
