Red Onion & Fig Tapenade with an explanation!!

Seems like just yesterday we were gathering for Easter, in any case I hope and wish that every ones Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine.
Three great flavors that work so well together are Goat Cheese, Fig and Caramelized Onion, wrap it all up in puff pastry, pop open a good Proceco and the party has begun. The sweetness of the fig and the tang of the caramelized onion brought upon by the port and balsamic vinegar compliment and off set the goat cheese just enough to ask the question of why this works so well. Let us begin by making up some Red Onion and Fig Tapenade. This is actually not a Tapenade as a Tapenade is classically Black Olives, Capers, Garlic and Olive Oil with spices smashed together to make a paste like spread, but as everything in the Culinary World is changing we might as well chunk off another classic and bastardize it. I get a kick out of how things are marketed by using a fancy name that really has nothing to do with the product, Tapenade is one of those words, fun fact, the word Tapenade comes from the word Tapenas which is Provencal for Capers of which we will not find in this recipe but will use the name or word to replace spread, jam , jelly, enduit or otherwise anything that can be spread upon a cracker or slice of bread. I better move on to the recipe and accept things are changing.
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Ingredients:

1 cup dried Black Figs (Chopped)
2 cups Sweet Red Onion ( sliced)
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup Red Port Wine
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Water
2 tbsp Garlic Puree
1 tbsp Sugar
1tsp fresh Lemon Juice
Sea Salt to taste

Add the water to a sauce pan and bring to boil, add dried figs reduce heat and simmer until liquid has reconstituted the dried figs. As that is going on in a saute pan heat olive oil, add sliced onions, cook over med heat until soft, add garlic cook until caramelized holding nice color, deglaze with port wine, bring to simmer, add balsamic vinegar and reduce liquids by half, add sugar, stir in the figs, cook until most of the liquid is gone, add lemon juice and a pinch of Sea Salt and stir again, remove from heat, allow to cool, once cooled place into food processor and blend until you have a smooth texture. This can be served with Goats Cheese on crackers or sliced bread but I will be back to share a way to serve this that is impressive and way to simple.
Until then Think Good Thoughts and Smile!!