Camembert, Fig and Balsamic-Cream Garlic Bread Toastie

It’s one of those nights: (or mornings, or afternoons) it’s raining again (or still?), the heater is buzzing, you got your winter sweaters from the attic, and you’re craving something comforting but you don’t feel like spending hours in the kitchen to make it. Here’s an idea: this Camembert, fig and balsamic cream toastie on garlic bread is exactly what you need on a day like this! 

Because when you got things between bread in your head…

Recipe Inspiration

Today happened to be one of those drizzly, yukky, ugh, kinda days. And I (Eveline) secretly love fall, so as soon as the rain starts to drizzle and decides to never end, I eat my heart out and get all those red, orange and purple fruits and veggies straight into my kitchen.  

Why We Love It

Figs are definitely a season’s favorite! At the local market they have them available for so little money and they are the juiciest and freshest things you’ll ever eat. Understandably, we had to make a toastie with one of those!

I also totally believe that eating what the season brings contributes to a happier and healthier gut (and body and mind). Apparently, our bodies crave seasonal foods right when it’s their season and who am I to say no to all these delicious, locally grown wonders of Mother Nature? 

Equipment

Don’t even try making this toastie on a toastie-maker! Or actually… Please do try and let us know how it went 😉

We used our classic grill for today’s toastie invention and we were exceedingly happy with the result. You really do want to keep an eye on the toaster once it gets going. You don’t want to lose your precious Camembert cheese! More about that down below! 

• Tefal: Inicio Grill (Awesome for Toasties and All Grilling Needs)

As you can see, this recipe is not very labor intensive. Perfect to hop back to the couch with this yummy toasted sandwich within no-time!

Balsamic Cream

I happen to have a well cherished bottle of balsamic cream in my cupboard. If you don’t, don’t sweat it! You can make a simple vinaigrette with honey (or maple) and balsamic vinegar. Just add equal amounts of both and stir until smooth and well blended. 

Keep in mind that a DIY vinaigrette will be slightly more liquidy than the cream. If it’s too liquidy to put it on top of the dates, you can let the dates sit in the vinegar before adding them to the sandwich. 

Camembert

Camembert (you have to pronounce this like a Frenchmen tweaking the tip of his mustache) is a french cheese. It’s made of cow’s milk and it’s eeh,… pretty moldy! Which is great! The mold of the cheese gives it its typical flavor and texture. You can also recognize the cheese’s flavor (from far away, hahaha). 

Although often eaten warm (or baked if you prefer 🙂 ) Camembert is a tricky little cheese when it heating it up. Keep an eye on the cheese at all times so that you can see the process of the cheese heating up, getting soft and elastic, but before it starts to melt too much. Now, you will recognize this when you see it. Or when the cheese has softened too much and has disappeared on the toastie. Whoops! 

Pro Tip

Even though we jokingly said that we would love to hear you experiment with the toastie-maker, we actually had to second guess ourselves. This might be a perfect option for the toastie-maker, because it will squeeze the sides together so that the cheese won’t escape!

Now, we actually don’t know how fluid the Camembert will get so in order to give you a solid answer to this, we owe you an experimentoasti! 

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Garlic Bread

OK, we’re cheating. We used normal white bread with garlic butter. You can also use any other kind of bread with garlic butter. You could also use herb butter. You could also use regular butter with garlic. Or garlic bread straight from the store. Do you need more options? 

Feeling Creative? 

Add more figs to the plate. Everywhere! Have you ever looked closely to the structure of figs? The little seeds form mind-blowing patterns inside the fig. They’re mesmerizing! Cut them in thin slices and decoratively add them to the side of your toastie. 

YouTube Video

Watch the toastie team in action! 

Let Us Know What You Think

Suggestions? Recommendations? Want to share the love? Reach out to us! We love to hear what you think of this recipe and we definitely like to see more people doing some experimentoasting! 

If you have any ideas for a toastie recipe that your would like us to make, let us know that, too. We love to try all varieties of toasties… like, all of them! If we choose your toastie idea we will give you a shout out in our articles and YouTube videos. 

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