You'd think that after living on my own for over 35 years that I would get the hang of cooking for one, I even bought a cookbook called The Pleasures of Cooking for One, which is a pleasant read and has some good sounding recipes, none of which I've made.So what got into me to purchase a flat of fresh figs, which bruise easily and don't keep well? Of course I ate a few fresh, but that still leaves 14 figs that I had to use up this weekend. Here's what I did.
Fig Compote
This is another fruit recipe from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce. The caramelized syrup is very yummy.
1/2 pound fresh figs
1/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons honey
- Preheat the broiler
- In a cast iron frying pan, melt the butter, brown sugar, and honey for one minute.
- Add the figs and cover them with the syrup.
- Put the pan under the broiler for 5 minutes, and stir the mixture occasionally to keep it from burning.
- Serve the compote hot over pancakes or porridge.
Fig Cobbler
I also found a recipe on the internet for a fig cobbler with a cheddar cheese lattice crust, which to me automatically puts it out of the running as a cobbler. I thought the combination of a savoury cheese with the sweetness of the figs might be pleasant, but I was distinctly underwhelmed. I tried to punch it up a bit by adding a smidgen of cayenne pepper to the fruit (which was a nice touch), but the fruit and crust just didn't combine well.
We got a sack of use-me-quick figs from our neighbors. I made some really good jam, loosely following a recipe on the web. They've got another tree not yet ripening, so I'm sure there will be more. The cobbler thing looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteI love that Judith Jones book, although I haven't cooked from it yet. Have you read her autobiog, The Tenth Muse? Very good, and a good followup to Child's My Life in France.
(You need to set yourself up as an Amazon Associate so you can get a tiny dab of money if someone buys one of the books you mention.)
I have no canning equipment, so I figured jam was out. Although I do love fig jam. The next try will be a fig crisp. I think that could work much better.
ReplyDeleteAFAIK, you don't really need canning equipment for jams and such, at least for small amounts. The high sugar content is a preservative. I guess you should keep the in the fridge, or at least cool. I put my extras in the freezer, fig and plum jams so far.
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