The painted Liberty Snake project moved along slowly for the month of July. One reason for the slow pace was the overwhelming, albeit much expected, bumper crop of figs. My original intention was to take these to the local farmer’s market for some quick cash, but with a pandemic looming and no firmly enforceable mask mandate in place, I thought better of that. Our freezer space quickly filled, and we gave away as much as we could. Without a good means of drying and not inclined to can, I decided to make the best of things and learn everything I could about figs and how best to serve them up in gourmet dishes.
Perhaps the best way to have figs is to eat them fresh off the tree. When in need of something a little fancier, here are some ideas. These are based upon one month of experimentation and a selection of the three best:
Labneh Figs: These have a middle eastern flavor and are most exquisite. Labneh is a cheese made from yogurt and may be difficult to find. We could not find it either locally or in specialty stores so came up with these alternatives with marscapone/crushed with pistachio filling and ricotta/hazel nut filling. To make them simply make an “x” in the middle of each washed and cleaned fig. Bake them in a 400 degree oven for ten minutes and fill each with the cheese of choice, sprinkle with ground nuts (pistachios were the best!), and then drizzle with honey.
Fig Sauce Yeast Bread:
This recipe was surprisingly simple and not too sweet. The bread has no extra sugar and is sweetened by the figs alone. For this you will need to boil down and mash enough figs to make a cup of cooked sauce. Combine two cups of flour. For a very hearty and nutritious bread I used one cup of whole wheat flour, one quarter cup of sorghum flour and three quarters cup of unbleached bread flour. In a separate bowl, combine one package of yeast with 3/4 cup of water. Slowly add the flour mix and knead for about ten minutes. Add more flour if this is too sticky. Work in one teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size (about an hour to and hour and a half). Punch down and place in a 9 x 5 inch bread pan and let double in size again. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.
Traditional Fig Pudding with Wine Sauce:
1. Cream ½ cup of butter
2. Add 2 eggs and 1 cup of molasses
3. Add 2 cups of finely chopped figs, ½ teaspon grated lemon rind, 1 cup of buttermilk and ½ cup of chopped walnuts.
4. Add 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour with ½ teaspoon baking soda, two teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
5. Bake for one hour at 325 degrees in a greased 9-inch tube pan.
Serve hot with hot wine sauce.
Wine sauce for plum pudding:
1. cream ½ cup of butter and 1 cup of sugar
2. Stir in 3/4 cup of dry sherry, Tokay or Madeira can add 1/4 teasp of nutmeg
3. Heat over a double boiler.
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