Figs fall into the category of food you either love or loathe. Me? I absolutely love them! There is nothing like a ripe, fresh fig. Last year we were lucky enough to rent a house in Italy which had a fruiting fig tree. To pick your own figs and to have a basket of them to make breakfast, lunch or dinner (or all three) surely underlines the fact that the best food is the simplest, needing no embellishment other than being combined with similarly top-quality ingredients.
There is much to be done with fresh figs, in both sweet and savoury recipes. Try them with prosciutto ham or cheese, especially a soft creamy Brie or blue veined variety.
FIG RELISH WITH SHALLOTS AND ORANGE
This is delicious with grilled goat
s cheese, or on its own as a salad accompaniment for any cold meat or poultry. If you make this using semi-dried figs, the texture of the end result will be a bit firmer.
SERVES 6
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 banana shallots, each peeled, halved and very thinly sliced
1 level teaspoon cumin seeds, bashed in a pestle and mortar, or in a small bowl, using the end of a rolling pin
8 figs, slightly on the firm side, rather than bursting ripe, each fig quartered
finely grated rind of 1 orange
1 level teaspoon salt
about 20 grinds of black pepper
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar – this just cuts the sweetness of the relish
Heat the olive oil and fry the thinly sliced shallots over a moderate heat for several minutes, stirring from time to time, until the shallots are completely soft and transparent. Stir in the bashed cumin seeds and cook for a further couple of minutes before adding the quartered figs and grated orange rind. Stir in the salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar and cover the pan with its lid. Cook over moderate heat, until the figs collapse and form a complete mixture with the soft shallots, about 15-20 minutes. Taste, and if you think it is needed add a third teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Serve this relish cooled, or if you would prefer, warmed up.
ROASTED FIGS WITH FIG AND LEMON ICE-CREAM
Don't be tempted to make this ice-cream – or any other, for that matter – and leave it in the freezer for weeks on end. I reckon about four to five weeks is the maximum time for this ice-cream to be at its best. This needs no beating during its freezing time so can't be made in an ice-cream machine.
SERVES 6
6 figs
2 tablespoons honey, preferably not heather honey, which has a very strong flavour which tends to dominate
For the ice-cream:
6 ripe figs
1/2 pint/285ml double cream
finely grated rind of 2 lemons, both well washed and dried before grating, to remove their preservative
3 large egg whites
6oz/170g sieved icing sugar
Making this ice-cream is the only time I ever peel a fig. Peel each one and whiz them briefly in a food processor to a purée – I never mind their tiny seeds, they are a part of fig eating, and picking them out leaves you with virtually no more than a teaspoon of purée, so just don't worry about them.
If you make the ice cream in this order you need not wash up the whisks until you have completed the whole thing.
Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt (which gives an increased volume) until thick and white then, whisking all the time, whisk in the sieved icing sugar, spoonful by spoonful and whisking in each before adding the next. When all the sugar is whisked in and you have a stiff meringue-like mixture, cover the bowl with a plate. Using the same whisks whip the cream until thick but not too stiff. With a flat whisk, fold the puréed figs and grated lemon rinds through the whipped cream, then remove the plate from the meringue and combine the two mixtures thoroughly, again, easiest and quickest done with a flat whisk. Scrape the mixture into a solid container, cover and freeze. Allow 35-40 minutes at room temperature before serving with the roasted figs. To roast the figs, slice each in quarters from the top but don't cut through their bases. Put them on a non-stick baking tray or cake tin. Warm the two tablespoons of honey and brush each fig with the honey. Roast in a hot oven, 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6, for 20 minutes. Serve a hot roast fig beside each helping of fig and lemon ice-cream.
FIG AND CHIVE STUFFED PARMA HAM
I love this first course. I serve it on individual plates with two slices of Parma ham wrapped around the dressing, on a small bed of mixed salad leaves.
SERVES 6
12 ripe figs, each diced into about 5-6 bits
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt about 20 grinds of black pepper
2 tablespoons finely snipped or chopped chives
2-3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
12 slices of Parma ham
salad leaves
In a bowl mix together the olive oil with the salt, pepper, chives and balsamic vinegar. Stir the chopped figs through this, coating each in the dressing. Leave for two to three hours, to marinate the figs in the flavours of the dressing.
Then, lay the Parma ham slices on a work surface and divide the fig mixture evenly between them. Put some salad leaves on each of six plates. Wrap the slices of ham over the fig mixture and put two on each small mound of salad leaves.
The full article contains 974 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
