Saturday 30 October 2010

In Season | Figs




As far as I'm concerned, the fig season is all too short, so come autumn I'm always on the lookout. I picked up these beauties from Brick Lane after work on Sunday morning, and at five for a pound they were an absolute steal.

I like to eat them as they are - fresh. But not everyone in the household finds them as palatable this way. So rather than gorge on them all by myself (a tempting thought), I find baking them with some honey and spices and serving them with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and a sprinkling of toasted hazelnuts (also in season) a simple way to share the love.



Baked honey-spiced figs

Serves 2

4 figs
4 knobs of butter
2 tbsps runny honey
1 cinnamon stick + 2 star anise (or a teaspoon of ground cinnamon if you don't have whole spices handy)
Greek yoghurt
Handful of shelled hazelnuts

  • Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
  • Cut a criss-cross in the top of each of the figs to about about halfway down the fruit, and open them up slightly.
  • Arrange the figs snugly in a small baking dish, and add a knob of butter to each.
  • Nestle in the whole spices (or sprinkle over the ground cinnamon), drizzle over the honey and add 2 tbsp water to the dish.
  • Bake in the oven for 15 mins. 5 mins before the end of cooking time, spoon the cooking juices over the figs and pop the hazelnuts onto a small baking tray or piece of foil to toast in the oven next to them.
  • Remove the figs & hazelnuts from the oven. Spoon more of the hot syrup over the figs and set aside - I like to wait until the figs are warm rather than piping hot before I eat them. In the meantime roughly chop the hazelnuts.
  • Serve topped with greek yoghurt, a spoonful of the rose-coloured buttery syrup and the toasted hazelnuts.


6 comments:

  1. this just looks too delicious. Such a gorgeous photo and apparently lovely to eat too! Will have to try it :0

    Thanks for stopping by mine. It always takes me a while to think up 101 things but I enjoy it.

    Amelia.x

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  2. Delicious! I really love figs - fell in love with them in Italy a few summers ago and can't believe i was missing out all those years beforehand! I also like them in salads...

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  3. Figs are so gorgeous, I saw some in the green grocer's yesterday and vowed I must do something with them.

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  4. Amelia: Thank you! Good luck with the MA - sounds exciting.

    Jane: I always forget you can have them in salads. What do you eat them with?

    Sarah: Really looking forward to seeing what you do with them. Your Halloween cookies were fab!

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  5. Fresh figs off the tree during a holiday in Italy is one of my fondest memories! Yummmm.. need to seek some out immediately!x

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  6. one of my favorite fruit, fresh or baked, sweet or savory, I love them!

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