Fig, Prosciutto and Ricotta Crostini

With all of the fresh figs I purchased from Eataly yesterday I knew I had to do something else with them.  Luckily I had also picked up some nice crusty bread, some 18-month aged Prosciutto di Parma, and some fresh ricotta from Salvatore Bklyn (which in my opinion makes the best fresh ricotta you can find in NYC).  So I threw together these crostini.  There is no real recipe, instead you just toast some fresh bread, then slather it with fresh ricotta and top with arugula, prosciutto and quartered figs.  Then you drizzle honey over the top and season with freshly ground black pepper and just a touch of salt.  Since there is no cooking involved and very few ingredients, it is pretty important to get the very best prosciutto, ricotta and figs that you can.  I'll be honest and admit that our honey came straight out of a honey bear squeeze bottle and the arugula was the kind you buy pre-washed in bags at the grocery store.  If you're not a pork lover or you don't like arugula, you can feel free to omit the prosciutto and the arugula and just serve crostini topped with ricotta, figs, honey, s&p.  Or you can just play around with a variety of ingredients until you find a combination that suits you. 

Figgy Roast Chicken

So I know that we had chicken breasts last night and I really hate to repeat my proteins, but we had dinner plans canceled at the last minute this evening and the only thing defrosted was more chicken.  Otherwise we had a random assortment of vegetables (but not enough of anything to build a meal around) and some half-frozen ground bison.  And did I mention that it was pouring outside?  We definitely weren't going back out to the grocery store for anything new.  And I was totally sick of restaurant food because we have eaten so much of it lately.  So chicken it was.  Luckily I visited Eataly earlier today during my lunch break and picked up a whole bunch of random gourmet ingredients, including some figs.  And we had some fresh lemon thyme in the apartment from the farmer's market.  So this was what we threw together - roast chicken with garlic, thyme and fresh figs.

I'm not certain that you could taste the figs and the garlic in the chicken itself, but the chicken was wonderfully moist regardless.  And then in the pan juices you could definitely taste the garlic and taste the sticky sweetness of the figs.  Dip some bread in it and spoon a little of the juices over the chicken.  You won't be sorry.  All this chicken needed to make it the perfect meal was a nice, fresh and peppery arugula salad.  Unfortunately we were out of arugula, but even without the salad it was a very nice meal.

P.S.  The picture wasn't our finest effort.  I threw some thyme on the plate and handed it off to Alex to take pictures thinking that he would arrange the thyme artistically around the plate before he took pictures.  Not so much.  I really should know better by now.

Recipe after the jump!