blissful eats with tina jeffers: Roasted Fig, blue cheese and honey tartines

I was fortunate enough a few weeks ago to attend a workshop with Helene and Clare, two amazing gifted food photographers.  Helene writes one of my favorite food blogs and I was so flattered and excited to learn that she had seen my work here on Bliss!  The food from Becky was amazing and watching her style a plate of food is truly watching an artisit at work.  I spent three days learning how to style, shoot and look at my recipes in a new light and I had a wonderful time.  We had the opportunity spend the day photographing at Poppy restaurant, I had never really done any documentary style photography and it was a great learning experience.  I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos from the weekend with you as well as this delicious tartine that I found on Helene’s site.  The only change I made was to roast the figs separately with a little balsamic vinaigrette before assembling the sandwiches.  This makes the perfect light lunch paired with a simple side salad.  Looking back at all these photos makes me wish I could do it all over again!  You can always find me during the rest of the week at my blog www.scalingbackblog.com!

Here are some shots from Poppy Restaurant.  It is such a beautiful space and the food was amazing.  

We were given challenges during the workshop such as how to properly style a salad and put together a beautiful cheese plate, what do you think?

On our second day we took things outside and had a picnic shoot in the park.  The best part was eating it all after we were finished!

Roasted Fig, blue cheese and honey tartines

Adapted from Tartelette

Ingredients:

8 slices of bread

½ cup crumbled smoky blue cheese

8 figs

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 ½ tablespoons honey

salt and pepper to taste

Method: 

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Slice the figs into quarters or slice into thirds.  In a small bowl combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and one tablespoon of honey.  Lightly brush the figs with the dressing and sprinkle the thyme over the top.  Cook the figs for 10-12 minutes until they start to caramelize. 

Turn the oven to your broiler setting.  Line another baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the slices of bread onto the sheet.  Top each slice of bread with a tablespoon of blue cheese and a few slices of roasted fig.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Broil the tartines just until the cheese starts to melt.  Remove from the oven and drizzle each tartine with a teaspoon of honey.