We finally did it. I suppose it was bound to happen at some point. We broke down and bought a few cooking supplies- while we have mostly been staying in apartments and hotel rooms with kitchenettes we have occasionally found ourselves without any cooking equipment. Usually its only for a day or two, but this time we are staying in a hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria for 5 days and all we have is a fridge. The food here is fairly inexpensive, but there is a serious language barrier and even when we find an English menu we only have a vague idea of what we are going to get. Anyway, in order to be somewhat in control of our food destinies we wanted to do a few homemade meals here in our hotel. To accomplish this, we decided we needed a few basic cooking supplies, a cutting board, bowls and some silverware. It has been a lifesaver!
We visited the fruit and vegetable stands near our hotel. They are located right next to a beautiful old church and large courtyard with tons of sidewalk cafes and kids playing soccer. Its very picturesque. And they have figs! I have only on rare occasions in my life had fresh figs and they are just so, so amazing! In the US most figs are grown in California, they are fragile and extremely perishable so shipping them outside of California is very costly, consequently they are very expensive. Even when I do see them (rarely) I can never afford them. So when we found them on the streets of Sofia at about a dollar a pound (!!!!) I may have gone a little fig crazy here, I mean, how could I not when they are that cheap and soo delicious? They are sweet, fragrant, soft, chewy and crunchy all at the same time. With all the flying and traveling we have been doing, figs are just the thing we need! They are high in fiber, which is so beneficial for the intestines and helps keep our gut in good health with all the traveling we have been doing the last week. They are also a good source of potassium, a mineral that helps mitigate all the damage that a high sodium diet does (like the high sodium foods we have had on our various flights). Figs are also a good source of several antioxidant vitamins and probiotics to help strengthen our immune systems. We bought several figs and decided to make them into wraps for an easy afternoon snack. We also ended up eating several plain and too many with a smear of goat cheese.
Fig & Basil Goat Cheese Wraps
Serves 2
1 Large Lemon Wedge
4 Ripe, Fresh Figs
4 Large Basil Leaves
3 oz Goat Cheese
2 Wheat Flatbread Wraps
Wash and finely chiffonade the basil. To chiffonade, stack all the leaves on top of each other and roll like a cigar. Carefully slice the roll like you are slicing thin rounds.
Wash figs and slice into thin wedges.
Mix goat cheese with lemon juice and chiffonaded basil. Spread on flatbread. Add figs and wrap up, squeeze a splash more lemon juice on the wrap if desired. Enjoy!
**Notes: The flatbread that we purchased here is very thin and ideal for wraps that are not too bread heavy. Look for really thin wraps or stuff into half a pita
