Melted Cheese with Fig Preserves, Pear & Ham

So here we are again. Fall. I swing back and forth between mourning the loss of summer's warmth and light and openness and thrilling to that crisp nip in the air, the vividness of sky's blue and the splashes of bold color that are creeping into the edges of every frame.

But I'm unequivocally happy that the drop in temperature and shorter days makes me want to turn on the oven, fire up the stove, whip up a batch of this and simmer a pot of that. And it's not just dinners, I'm also feeling a bit more inspired about lunches, too. Hence these divine melts I made for lunch today.

I found this jar of fig preserves in my pantry last week, hiding behind a tower of our pickle relish, and have been using it non-stop ever since. It is the perfect foil to any kind of cheese - be it sharp, creamy, moldy, or goaty, it's all good!

And the Asian pears that Migliorelli Farm was selling at the Woodstock Farm Festival this week were too pretty to pass up.

So I decided to pair the fig preserves with sharp cheddar cheese, very thinly sliced Asian pear and a little organic ham and put it all in the toaster to get bubbly and browned and crisp around the edges.

The combination is sooooo good! Each bite contains just the right amount of sweet and savory and gooey and crunchy. I ate mine with this remarkable purple carrot which tasted as good as it looked.

This is a melt so I'm not going to insult your intelligence by sharing a real recipe - just slice your bread, smear it with fig preserves, lay down the ham (optional, of course), layer on the cheese and top with the sliced pear - apple would be good, too. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toast or bake at 400 degrees until it meets your criteria for doneness.

Just a note to all you vegetarians, the combination would also be good without the ham lest you're intrigued.

You might also like:

• Pumpkin Mac & Cheese
• Baked Stuffed Squash, Three Delicious Ways
• Chopped Liver