goat cheese custard with roasted figs

having a fireplace in my room will be the death of me.
and i'm not referring to carbon monoxide poisoning, although there's a safe bet that i got a good deal of that in my system last week when emily helped me build the first bedroom fire of the year, assuring me that she had, in fact opened the flue, and then reassuring me for the next hour and a half that the deadly, asphyxiating haze of smoke was definitely dissipating and there was no need to put the fire out. luckily our other housemates came home and yelled at us about fire safety before we had time to pass out and die in a giggly, fume-induced stupor.

no, what i mean is that having a fireplace in my room (now that we've properly opened the flue) is making it almost impossible for me to actually leave said room, let alone my house. last night i took it to the next level and moved my bed in front of the fireplace, which means i can now not only read deleuze in bed but watch daria in bed in front of the fire. if this keeps up i'm going to have to start bribing pizza delivery guys to bring the goods straight to my room so i don't have to get up.
luckily there are still 1.) classes, 2.) bodily needs and 3.) the kitchen to force me out of hibernation. last night i took david lebovitz's recipe for cute little individual goat cheese custards and scaled it up into one giant custard (for practicality purposes), and then i made a batch of his roasted figs and combined the two for a pretty intense dessert experience.
the custard is not unlike a very light, slightly pudding-y cheesecake, but with an unmistakable rustic tang from fresh chevre whipped into the batter. oh, and it's one of the easiest desserts you'll ever make in your life: you put five ingredients in the blender, mix for a few seconds, pour and bake. it opens up all kinds of fruit pairing possibilities: david recommends strawberries in a red wine syrup, for summertime. i could imagine a plum compote being pretty spectacular as well. i paired the custard with his recipe for roasted figs, using a box of black mission figs that were surprisingly sweet and ripe given how late it is in the season. you toss the figs with honey, brown sugar, lemon zest, thyme and a splash of alcohol and roast them under foil just long enough for them to soften up in a puddle of dark, sticky syrup--one which conveniently lends itself very well to being drizzled over, say, a creamy chevre custard.it has the sweet and savory thing going for it in all the right ways--enough that i'm considering making this for thanksgiving tomorrow, although i'm a bit hesitant because some of my guinea pigs were a bit tepid about the custard's consistency, and chevre tends to be a bit of a polarizing ingredient. i'd be interested to see how the two would fare baked into a pie crust together...?

goat cheese custard
adapted from david lebovitz
serves 8

• 10 oz (280g) fresh goat cheese, at room temperature*
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 1 cup (240ml) milk, cream, or half-and-half
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

*should be the soft kind in logs, not the kind with a rind, which is aged
preheat the oven to 350°F. place a 2 quart ramekin or ceramic mold (or a 9" glass pie plate, which is what i used) in a deep baking dish or pan.

in a blender, mix together the goat cheese, sugar, milk (or cream), egg yolks, and vanilla for 30 seconds until very smooth. pour into your ramekin or pie plate. add warm tap water to the baking pan, to make a water bath for baking the custard. the water should reach to about halfway up the side of the custard dish.

cover the pan with foil and bake for 50 minutes. carefully remove from oven and check to see if the custard is set--you want it to not quiver loosely when you jiggle the pan. if it's still too wiggly, bake in increments of ten minutes until set. remove from water bath and cool completely before serving alongside roasted figs.
note: custard is best served at room temperature. you can chill it in the refrigerator for up to two days, covered with plastic wrap, then bring it to room temperature prior to serving.
roasted figs
adaped from david lebovitz
serves 8

• 1 lb (450g) fresh figs
• 4-6 branches fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp red wine or liquor, such as chartreuse, pernod, grand marnier or cointreau (i used aromatic bitters)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp dark or light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp honey
• three 1" strips of fresh lemon zest (use a vegetable peeler)

preheat the oven to 400ºF.
slice the tough stem end off the figs and slice each in half lengthwise (i quartered mine because they were pretty big).
toss the figs in a large baking dish (such as a 2 quart dish) with the thyme, red wine or liquor, brown sugar, honey, and lemon zest. turn the figs so that they are all cut side down in the baking dish, in a single layer.
cover the baking dish snugly with foil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the figs are softened and cooked through.
when done, remove the baking dish from oven, lift off the foil, and let the figs cool completely. serve atop custard, along with any syrup that's accumulated in the pan.