bacon wrapped, cheese-filled figs.
The sun is out! I cannot wait until summer is blaring at full rate, with cozy days and long evenings sipping this or that until light finally wanes and one lazily heads to bed. There is something soothing about summer, and it isn't just the warm nights: it is the grilled food. I have been told---even chastised---for not heating up the grill in the dead of winter. I am beginning to heed that advice, taking off the grill cover once in awhile for a seafood or beef marinated skewer, some easy to make burgers and even a pile of grilled veggies. The thought of it warms me to the core: I like this grill-in-the-winter concept. It does make you feel like you are making summer proud, offering it a stake in taking over another season or in the very least enjoying the culinary nod of outdoor cooking wherever, whenever.
That said, even if you are snowed in right now, the sunshine peeking through here is beckoning me to step outside and grill a bit. And even if it rains, I can tuck under the eaves of my home while grilling, taking some forlorn, summery flavors and bringing them inside to my early spring table (feel free to don the snowsuit or umbrella if your grilling commitment requires braving the elements!).
Put your grill on: whether saluting summer, serenading spring or laughing in the face of winter, I cannot wait any longer to eat these amazing bacon wrapped, goat-cheese-filled figs (it is almost sinful how yummy these are, and how simple they are to make):
Prosciutto Wrapped Figs Figs Goat Cheese Prosciutto
Place figs upright, slice an X through the stem top, down to about 1/2 inch from fig base. Insert rounded tsp. of goat cheese into middle of X; wrap entire fig---around the belly---with prosciutto. Grill until charred and warm. Serve and savor summer... open eyes not required.
