More than ten years ago John and I built our dream home. We spent two years designing it and it took 2 years to build it. This was back when we had money which is sadly no longer the case. A few years later, we’d gone to Prague for a conference and because the house was brand new and because it was fun and because he’s a geek, he had cameras connected to the internet everywhere.
One night at the hotel in Prague he looked at me and said, “Why is Julie (our housekeeper) showing strangers through our house??
Hmmm, what to say to that one? I’ve never lied to him and I knew exactly who was going through our house. I hemmed and hawed and he said, “So you KNEW she was taking someone through the house?”
“Uhh, yeah.”
“So???”
“It’s a surprise, don’t ask.”
“A surprise for whom,” he says.
“You.”
“Oh, so what is it?”
“That wouldn’t be a surprise, would it??”
He hounded me and hounded me until I blurted out. “You’re nearly 50 !”
Julie was showing the caterer through the house and got caught on the cameras. Who could have guessed?
The caterer served these tarts as an appetizer at his party. I thought I would crawl in the plate and live with them. It’s just the right balance between the sweetness of the fig jam and the tartness & richness of good bleu cheese.
You can buy tiny appetizer tart shells (expensive) or you can make your own if you have two small mini-cupcake silicone pans, it’s really easy. Buy or make pastry crust and cut into small circles and pat the crust into one of the cups. Then, very carefully put the other pan on top to hold the crusts in shape and bake til cooked but only barely beginning to brown. You can put them in an airtight container and they’ll keep for a while.
I’ve never had these at a party when there were any left over.
The birthday party was a great success. All our employees showed up wearing black t-shirts with some geeky code on it ending with “k” because that’s what he always writes for okay. Our friends all showed up dressed as John, complete with gray beard and laptop. It was very funny.
- 1 container of fig jam
- ½ lb of good quality bleu cheese or blue cheese
- Small pastry tart shells about 2 inches in diameter
- Put a small spoonful of fig jam in the tart shell and put a small piece of bleu - blue cheese on top
- Bake in the oven at 350F 180C for about 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.
OMG! My mouth is watering. I WILL make these very soon. Thank you, I can’t wait to try ’em.
Even better (if possible!) with bits of chopped, toasted walnuts sprinkled on the top before baking.