Fig and blue cheese risotto.

I'm back!  I was off work for a couple of weeks and spend lots of time working out and investigating the cause of the migraines I've been afflicted with since I was a child.  Although I'm not much closer to finding any sort of definitive answer on that front, I think the best solution to most of the things that ail us is to get regular exercise, adequate sleep, eat nourishing food and address any causes of stress in our lives.  I think I'm doing pretty well on all fronts, and have noticed fewer migraines in the past month (on average) than I was having since January.

Today when I went out to do the grocery shopping for the week, I was at the market and came across some fresh figs, which I have been on the lookout for since about April.  I'm not actually sure why, I've just been thinking that I would love to try cooking with some, but I hadn't planned anything out in particular.  I bought three ripe figs and went home to find a recipe to use them in!

The recipe that I decided to use was for fig risotto, which you can find here.  I, of course, tweaked it a bit!  The ingredients I used were:

• 3 ripe figs
• 2 tbsp butter (divided)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1/2 cup rose wine
• 1.25 L vegetable stock
• approximately 2 tbsp blue cheese (the stinkier the better, I used a Stilton)
• 1/4 cup grated Asiago

First I cut the stems off of the figs, diced them, and sauteed them for about a minute and a half to two minutes in one tablespoon of butter.  Once liquid started to come out of the figs, I took them off of the heat and set them aside in a bowl.  

Next, I minced the shallot and garlic, and sauteed them in the same skillet until the shallot was clear in the remaining butter and the olive oil.  I them added the rice, and stirred it around until the rice were covered in the oil, which turns the rice clear.

Once the rice went clear, I added the wine and a ladle of the vegetable stock.  I have a really great technique for making risotto which allows it to cook faster than risotto normally cooks.  What I do is: every time I add any liquid to the rice, I give it a stir and then I cover it until the liquid is absorbed.  It usually takes about twenty minutes.

So I added one two two ladles of stock to the rice every three to four minutes.  Once the rice was appropriately cooked, I added the figs.  The figs had some liquid from the cooking, so I allowed that to cook off, then added the blue cheese.  Finally, I added the Asiago, and my masterpiece was complete!  It was delicious and different.  The figs and the blue cheese perfectly complemented each other.  

I will be trying more fig recipes in the near future, as it is fig season right now, so they are readily available!