Macheesmo

As you might imagine, I subscribe to a variety of food magazines. In my humble opinion, Bon Appétit is one of the best out there. It always has very innovative recipes that are not terrible to make. Sometimes their recipes are a bit harsh on the pocketbook, but the December edition is dedicated to cooking on a budget. Or at least more so than every other edition.

So I made these for breakfast:

Fig Breakfast Sandwiches

by Nick

Serves:

8 sandwiches

Prep Time:

45 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 15 mins

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Homemade fig jam and buttermilk biscuits make this one of the best breakfast sandwiches on the web!

Ingredients

Black Mission Fig Jam: (45 minutes)

1/2 pound mission figs (about 6)

1.5 cups water

2 Tablespoons light molasses

3/4 Teaspoon Dijon mustard

3/4 Teaspoon sugar

Fresh ground pepper

Pinch of salt

Buttermilk Biscuits:

2.5 cups all purpose flour

1.5 Tablespoons baking powder

1.5 Teaspoons salt (kosher is best)

1.5 Teaspoons sugar

3 Tablespoons shortening

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

3 Tablespoons very thinly sliced, and frozen, butter

Other Sandwich stuff:

8 ounces ham, sliced

8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions

1) To start the jam, slice figs and combine with other jam ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and let it reduce for about 45 minutes, stirring regularly. It should be a dark, thick jam. Let cool briefly.

2) For the biscuits, preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix the first four ingredients well in a large bowl. Then use your hands to pinch in the shortening. You want it evenly distributed in small pea-sized globs. Stir in buttermilk.

3) You roll the dough out in a rectangle until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Then place the chilled butter all over the dough, and fold it over in thirds. So you want a layer of dough, a layer of butter, a layer of dough, a layer of butter, and then a layer of dough.

4) Cut out biscuits using a mold or a small bowl as a guide. You should get eight. Transfer biscuits to a baking sheet and brush with buttermilk. Bake these for 20 minutes at 425.

5) To make a sandwich, Spread some butter on one half and some fig jam on the other. Pile on some ham and cheddar cheese. Lots of cheddar cheese.

6) Stick them under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the biscuits browned. Serve while warm.

There are only two real steps to this recipe that make it unique: making the fig jam and making the biscuits. In my opinion you have to make the biscuits from scratch. They aren’t that hard and they really make the sandwich.

The fig jam you could buy. But I’ve never really made jam before so I took this as an opportunity.

You literally put all this stuff in a pot and let it reduce down for 45 minutes.

Start and finish:

Now let’s talk biscuits. These biscuits are a bit heartier than you might be used to. You want that though because they have to hold up to ham, cheese, and fig preserve. A lame store bought biscuit would fall apart.

Start with your first four ingredients and mix them up well. Then use your hands to pinch in the shortening. You want it evenly distributed in small pea-sized globs.

The next step is the tricky part and the part I had never done before. The recipe calls for using a French preparation (so they claim, but I’m not French so who knows). You roll the dough out in a rectangle until it is about 1/4 inch thick.

Then place the chilled butter all over the dough, and fold it over in thirds. So you want a layer of dough, a layer of butter, a layer of dough, a layer of butter, and then a layer of dough.

Don’t press down on this dough too much. You want it thick and light.

Once you have this part done you need to actually make the biscuits. This is easy if you have a biscuit cutter or even a freakin’ cookie cutter. I had none of these.

I got a small, sharp paring knife and made biscuits. Easy breezy. Then brush them with a bit of buttermilk.

Bake these for 20 minutes at 425. You’ll end up with these beauties.

Now this gets easy. Cut a few of these in half. Spread some butter on one half and some fig jam on the other. Pile on some ham and cheddar cheese. Lots of cheddar cheese.

Stick them under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the biscuits browned.

These are a great way to start the day. You just can’t go wrong. You could change up the cheeses and ham with tons of stuff I’m sure. These are like a McMuffin on a strong dose of awesome.

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