On my birthday a couple of years ago, my husband took me to this lovely restaurant - located on the 61st floor, the restaurant had breathtaking views of Singapore from each window. It was such a visual delight to be dining there. Sadly, the food did not compare to the views in any way and even more sad is the fact that a good view won't fill your tummy. So while this place was gorgeous, the food ranged between average to bad across the range of appetizers, main courses and desserts. But in everything that we ordered, there was one item which caught my fancy. It was an appetizer with figs and cheese on puff pastry base. There was something wonderful in the combination of the soft salty cheese with sweet warm figs and I really enjoyed it. I am not the biggest fan of puff pastry because often the puff pastry ends up tasting a bit greasy. But I enjoyed the dish immensely and it instantly made to my list of must cook dishes.

I am always hunting for fresh figs in Singapore and they are not as easily available as some of the other exotic fruits and vegetables. One day in the supermarket I saw a couple of packs of figs and I grabbed them instantly. There were a couple of things I wanted to try out - this appetizer with figs and a dessert of roasted figs. The taste of the appetizer in the restaurant was still very fresh in my mind and I did not have to research a lot of recipes to know what I wanted. I did want to make some changes to the original recipe though. I wanted to replace the puff pastry with something that would be light, crispy and have layers to it without the heaviness of puff pastry.

It also happened to be the time I had make the flaky biscuits and I had some dough lying around in the fridge. I decided to use that dough to make the base for my appetizer, the difference with the biscuits being that this would be rolled out much thinner than the biscuits. This will make sure the crust tastes crispy throughout and will also hold the toppings much better if it is thinner. To give the base an added flavor, I brushed some homemade garlic bread spread on it before I baked it. The flavor of garlic powder and herbs along with a bit of parmesan cheese added saltiness and flavor to the plain biscuit dough which went very well with fresh mozzarella and the figs. Such a delight! If you like fresh figs, this is a must try ..... something very gourmet that can be made very quickly and requires little effort.

Ingredients:

1/3 batch of flaky biscuit dough ( see here ) or 1/2 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed and rolled thin

6 fresh figs, cut into quarters or 6 wedges per fig.

1 ball of fresh mozzrella

2 tablespoon pre-made garlic bread spread or see recipe below

4-5 fresh basil leaves

sea salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 450F/225 C. Roll the biscuit dough or puff pastry to a 1/8 inch thinckness. Cut with a biscuit / cookie cutter into 2 1/2 inch discs. Make a depression in the center of the dough with your fingers. This will help to make an indent which helps to hold the filling.

2. Brush the garlic butter spread on the dough discs and bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or till they turn golden brown.

3. Put slices of fresh mozzarella on the baked crusts and sprinkle with sea salt and fresh basil leaves. Place on top of the cheese and bake in a preheated oven for 3-5 minutes till the cheese melts and the figs are warmed through.

4. Serve warm.

Garlic bread spread

Ingredients:

1 stick (8 tablespoons unsalted butter) softened to room temperature

2 teaspoons dried garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan

salt to taste

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients above in a small bowl with a spoon/fork until evenly mixed. Spread on bread/biscuits while at room temperature. This can be stored in the fridge for upto a few weeks. Bring to room temperature before spreading.