This is a great recipe for entertaining, and for apéro hour. It is a cinch to make like a banana bread, with no yeast, kneading, waiting, etc. It is a quick savory bread that really captures many of the essential flavors of Provence and the Mediterranean. When I first read this recipe I knew it was going to be really good! How can you go wrong with goat cheese, dried figs, honey, olive oil, fresh herbs, and even citrus zest. It gets better, Dorie Greenspan suggests that you can easily substitute ingredients such as dried tomatoes instead of figs, different neutral oils, different cheeses, basil instead of parsley, and lemon instead of orange. She also suggests serving it warm and in thick slices. Heaven!
Goat Cheese and Fig Quick Bread
Lovingly Adapted from Dorie Greenspan for New York Times Cooking
Ingredients:
butter
4 ounces very cold soft goat cheese
4-6 moist plump dried figs, such as Mission, cut 1/4-inch pieces
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup whole milk lukewarm
1/3 cup olive oil or another neutral oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 clementine or 1/2 tangerine zest
Directions:
1) Center a rack in the oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8 to 9-inch loaf baking pan with butter.
2) Cut the goat cheese into 1/2-inch pieces. It can be messy, and sticky, so don’t worry. Keep in refrigerator until needed.
3) In a small bowl, toss together the figs, parsley, rosemary, and thyme; set aside.
4) In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Working in a different medium bowl, whisk the eggs until blended, then whisk in the milk, oil, and honey.
5) Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture, and using a sturdy spatula, stir until the dough is almost blended. You’ll still see some streaks of flour, and that is okay. Scatter the fig and herb mixture over the dough, and then cover with the chilled bits of goat cheese. Grate the zest of the clementine or tangerine over the cheese. Using as few strokes as possible, stir everything together. Once again, it might not look perfect, and once again that is fine. Scrape the dough into the baking pan, and use the spatula to poke the dough into the corners, and to even out bumpy top.
6) Bake for 34 to 38 minutes, or until the top is golden, the bread has started to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a tester or toothpick inserted into the middle of the bread comes clean. Unmold the bread onto a rack, turn it right side up and let cool. Wrapped well, the bread will keep for a day or two at room temperature. Time: 50 minutes. Yield: 8 servings.