Tag Archives: Figs

Cardamom Flavoured Fig Rolls

10 Wednesday Jan 2024

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I made this recipe last week to take to a party, my thought was to make fig rolls using the preserve in the previous post sandwiched between cardamom flavoured shortbread. Good plan.
I have successfully made shortbread countless times, but always using plain white flour with the semolina, this time I decided to use wholemeal spelt flour. The flavour was excellent, so much so that my friends have asked for the recipe, but the texture was quite different to usual. The wholemeal flour doesn’t absorb the butter quite the same as white flour, so the shortbread was more crumbly and brittle than I would have liked, and some of the shortbread melted away from the cute little rounds that I had cut out.
So making the rolls again, I cooked them in one piece in a tray and then cut them up once they were out of the oven but still quite hot, and this worked well.

1 jar caramelised fig preserve

For the shortbread –

225 grams wholemeal spelt flour

100 grams fine semolina

225 grams unsalted butter at room temperature

100 grams castor sugar

the seeds from 15 green cardamoms

Cut the butter up into a bowl and add the sugar, cream together until smooth.

In another bowl mix the flour, semolina and cardamom

Add about a third of the flour mix into the butter and mix well to blend.

Add another third of the flour mix and blend this in, then the last third.

As you are getting to the last if the flour you will have to knead it into the dough.

Work the dough into a round ball, flatten a bit and cut it into two equal parts.

Line a 17 cm x 27 cm baking tray with baking parchment.

Roll out one of your pieces of dough to fit the tray. This is easiest between two sheets of cling film. You may have to do some trimming and patching to get a perfect oblong, the dough will stick back together in the baking.

Spread over this an even layer if the preserved figs.

Rollout the other half of the shortbread and lay over the figs. Prick all over with a fork.

Bake at 125C fan oven, 150C electric or gas mark 3 for 40 minutes.

Cut the rolls into the sizes that you like while the rolls are still warm and soft and the leave to go cold completely before removing from the tray.


Caramelised Fig Preserve

10 Wednesday Jan 2024

Posted by in Preserves, Sweet Things

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For those of us lucky enough to live here in southern Spain, and who are even more lucky enough to have fig trees, this is a recipe for you. It’s for that period in the summer when your Breva figs are ripening at the rate of a kilo or more a day and you are looking for a way to keep some of them for the winter. The recipe is super simple and doesn’t add any extra sugar as the figs are sweet enough.

The fígs are great just with ice cream or cream, figgy pudding or the filling in fig rolls which will be the next post.

You will need 120 grams of butter per kilo of figs, a deep frying pan big enough to take the amount of figs that you are going to preserve and some clean sterilised jars.

A reminder only to preserve fruit that is in perfect condition, as figs are ripening at the hottest time of the year and can quickly start to ferment on the branch, I pick first thing in the morning and only the just ripe nicest figs.

Wash the figs and dry them in a tea towel.

Cut off the stems and cut the figs into quarters.

Warm the butter in a non-stick frying pan and add the figs.

Cook stirring on a medium heat. The fruit will start to give out some of its juices, continue cooking until these have evaporated.

Keep stirring and cooking until the fruit mixture is dryer and is frying in the butter.

The sugar in the fruit will now start to get hotter and be heading towards caramelising. Keep cooking until you can detect the caramel aroma. The fig mixture will get dryer, thicker and tend to stick to the bottom of the pan a bit, but keep going until they are nice and toffee flavoured.

Do not be tempted to taste the figs at this point, they are very hot.

If you are not sure that you have cooked the figs enough, always cook a bit longer until you can really get the odour of the caramel.

Let the figs cool a little before putting them into jars.

I like to put some of the preserve into regular jam sized (270ml) jars, and then some much smaller jars for 1-2 people servings.


Aubergine & Purslane Salad with Figs & Yoghurt Dressing

30 Sunday Jul 2023

Posted by in salads, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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Here’s the recipe for the final dish of my Turkish lunch. For those of you not familiar with Purslane or Verdolaga as it is called here in Spain and have vegetable gardens, it is a salad plant that is well worth cultivating as it is succulent even in the hottest months. You only have to sow it once and let it go to seed, then it will appear every summer.

In Turkey a particularly large leafed variety has been developed, and its leaves are regularly made into a salad with just goats milk yoghurt and salt. If you can’t get hold of Purslane, then substitute Corn Salad (Canónigos), or Watercress.

For 4 portions

1 large black aubergine

purslane or corn salad

2 large black figs – diced

2 tablespoons finely diced sweet onions

juice of 1/2 lemon

sea salt

2 -3 tablespoons goats yoghurt or vegan yoghurt

Either roast or microwave the aubergine until soft. If you have never cooked an aubergine in the microwave, it is a good fast way to get soft creamy flesh. Prick the aubergine all over with a fork to prevent it bursting while cooking. Cook on a high setting for a couple of minutes, then turn and cook for a couple more minutes. Keep doing this until you can feel that it is soft all the way through.

Leave the aubergine to cool, then cut it into quarters lengthways, remove the flesh discarding the skins and dice the flesh.

Put the flesh in a large salad bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Check the seasoning and serve.

Three Salads

02 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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In this summer heat, lunch for your friends wants to be a light and fresh affair, Watermelon Gazpacho followed by three salads served with freshly homemade bread. To finish a small pot each of intense dark chocolate sorbet and crispy ginger biscuits.

BEETROOT & RADICCIO SALAD WITH PURPLE BASIL

The beetroot was roasted for an hour with whole cloves of garlic, a generous splash of balsamic vinegar, sprigs of fresh oregano and olive oil, season well with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Let the beetroot cool before mixing with shredded chicory and purple basil leaves.

LENTIL & POMEGRANATE SALAD WITH FRESH CORIANDER

His salad is cooked green lentils, a good amount of the little pomegranate jewels that I have plenty of in the garden this year, then finely chopped cucumber, tomatoes and celery. Add a generous amount of roughly chopped coriander leaves and dress lightly with lime juice and olive oil.

I’m a fan of soaking dried grains so that when you come to cooking the grains are already re moistened in the centre, and so require less cooking. Pour boiling water over the lentils and leave an hour or so to steep before cooking until just tender. Drain the lentils and let them cool before adding them to the salad.

SALAD OF FRESH FIGS, ROASTED RED ONIONS AND HAZELNUTS

This is a Yotam Ottolengi recipe which has a lovely contrast of flavours with the sweet roasted red onions and figs, and the peppery watercress and rocket. His recipe uses radiccio rather than rocket, but as I have both I decided that the more peppery rocket suited this recipe better. I was surprised to find that what I thought was weeds in my vegetable patch is actually rocket, and it hasn’t become overly peppery in the strong Spanish heat.
I haven’t used roasted red onions in a salad before, and I have to say, I’m a total convert. I shall be roasting a tray full regularly so that I have them at the ready in the fridge.

This amount serves 4

2 small red onions – peel them and cut each into 6 wedges

50 grams hazelnuts with skin / or ready dry roasted unseasoned hazelnuts

1/2 small head of radicchio / or a similar amount of rocket

good bunch of fresh basil – either the green or purple

bunch of watercress with the stems removed

6 ripe fresh figs, cut into quarters

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Roast the onions drizzled with olive oil at 180 C for 30 minutes. Leave to cool.

If you are roasting hazelnuts, turn the oven down to 140, and once it has reached this temperature, spread the hazelnuts in a shallow pan and roast for 20 minutes. Leave to cool then break up into pieces with a pestle and mortar. If you are using the ready roasted hazelnuts break these up as above.

To put the salad together, start with the leaves, rip them into pieces and put in a large bowl, add the onions and figs.

Dress with the oil and vinegar and gently toss. I like to do this with my hands as it’s more gentle than using implements.

Scatter over the broken hazelnuts and serve.

A Mid-Week Dinner – Continued

27 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Starters, Sweet Things, Vegetable Dishes

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For the – probably one of you – who has been waiting for the rest of the recipes for this dinner, here at last they are. IMG_1518 SPINACH WITH PINE NUTS AND RAISINS

For 4

25 grams pine nuts

A good bunch of fresh tender spinach

Olive oil 25 grams small golden raisins

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Firstly toast the pine nuts until a golden brown in a thick based pan over a low heat. Shake the pan from time to time to turn the nuts.

Wash and drain the spinach.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a shallow pan. Add the spinach, cover and let wilt for a couple of minutes over a low heat.

Add the pine nuts and raisins and stir to mix.

Season then cover the pan again and leave to cook for about five minutes.

Serve on hot plates.

PRAWN WITH GARLIC, LEMON AND PARSLEY

For 4

20 medium sized peeled prawns

1 large clove garlic

Olive oil

Juice of half a lemon

Chopped flat leaved parsley

Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a frying pan.

Add the chopped garlic and fry until light brown.

Add the prawns and cook quickly on a high heat until opaque and slightly browned.

Squeeze in the lemon juice and stir to collect any brownings at the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle in the parsley and serve immediately on a hot dish.

IMG_1525 CARAMELISED FIG CUSTARDS

FOR 4

The only remotely complicated thing about this recipe is remembering to cook the custards early enough that they can cool completely. You can of course cook them the day before they are needed.

I will point out also that it is not an error that the custard does not have sugar added to it. There is enough sweetness in the caramelised fig to balance the less sweet custard.

4 tablespoons caramelised fig jam

Butter for greasing your pots

2 eggs

200 ml full fat milk

Few drops vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 140C

To cook this you will need individual ovenproof pots for the custard. Most crockery is oven proof provided you don’t heat or cool it too rapidly. I used some glass coffee cups to cook my custards.

Grease the pots with butter and then put a tablespoon of the fig jam in the bottom of each.

Break the eggs into a jug and whisk lightly to mix.

Add the milk and vanilla essence and whisk a bit more to mix this.

Pouring through a sieve to remove any solid bits in the egg, pour the custard into the pots.

Put the pots into a deep baking dish and add boiling water to the dish to come about 2cm up the pots. This prevents the custards getting too hot and burning on their bases.

Put in the oven and leave to cook for about an hour until the custards are just set.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

To serve slide a thin knife around the edge of the custard, put a small plate on top of the pot and invert the whole lot. You may have to give the custard and encouraging shake. If any of the jam stays in the pot, simply spoon neatly on top of the custard.

MINI CARDAMOM SHORTBREADS

100 grams plain flour

40 grams fine semolina

Quarter teaspoon ground cardamoms

30 grams sugar

100 grams butter

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Cut the butter into small pieces into the flour mix and rub in.

Bring the mix together in a firm dough.

On a floured surface roll the dough out to just under a centimetre thick.

If you have a very small round cutter – ideally about 3cm diameter – then cut into small biscuits. Otherwise cut into small squares or lozenges.

Bake at 150C for about an hour until pale golden.

A Mid-Week Dinner

09 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by in Main Courses, Starters, Sweet Things

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PRAWNS WITH LEMON & GARLIC, SPINACH WITH PINE NUTS & RAISINS

RABO DE TORO SERVED WITH PLAIN BOILED POTATOES

CARAMELISED FIG CUSTARDS SERVED WITH CARDAMON SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

This didn’t seem like a complicated meal for mid-week when I cooked it the other week, but now that I am writing about it, there is quite a lot of work. I must have been in one of those Zen cooking moods.

Much of it is done in advance, which makes it feel less work. The oxtail stew is cooked the evening before and left to very slowly cool in the oven overnight, which lets it cook long and slow and so develop a rich flavour. I cooked enough stew so that there was enough not only for this meal, but also for making Fresh Pasta with Beef Ragout for my sisters the following weekend.

IMG_1518

I have jars of Caramelised Fig Jam, made from fruit from the farm last summer. So for the dessert, I only needed to mix an egg custard, put that in pots on top of the Fig Jam and then put the pots in the oven to cook and set.

But then I got into biscuit making mood. The custards are perfectly fine without the biscuits. But I had that yearning in my minds stomach for buttery, crunchy, sweetness with the gorgeous fragrance of cardamoms…..

IMG_1522

I am giving you the stew recipe today. You will get the starters and dessert tomorrow.

RABO DE TORO – OXTAIL STEW

Serves 6

6 pieces oxtail

2-3 tablespoons flour

salt and freshly ground black pepper

olive oil

4 cloves garlic – finely chopped

1 large onion – finely chopped

2 red peppers – cut into strips

2 large tomatoes – skinned and roughly chopped

half a bottle of full bodied red Spanish wine

1 clove

5allspice berries

Small piece of cinnamon bark

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Gremolata – finely chopped fresh garlic, flat leaved parsley and the finely grated zest of one lemon

Put the flour in a shallow dish and season very generously with salt and black pepper.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a thick based casserole.

Coat the oxtail pieces in the seasoned flour and fry on a medium heat, turning each side until browned all over.

This may have to be done in two batches. The meat pieces will brown more easily if they are not crowded in the pan.

Add more oil as you go along if needed.

Remove the meat from the pan and put to one side.

Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the peppers and continue cooking for about ten minutes until the onions are slightly browned.

Add the tomatoes and cook for a further five minutes scraping any flour stuck to the base of the pan into the sauce as it is moistened.

Put the meat back in the pan.

Add the wine. It should just come up to the top of the meat.

Heat to a simmer.

Put the clove and allspice berries into a thick based dry pan and heat slowly for five minutes or so to toast and bring out the flavour.

Grind to a powder with a pestle and mortar.

Add this to the stew with the piece of cinnamon.

Cover the casserole and put in a low oven, you want the sauce to be showing an occasional bubble but no more. For my oven this is 120C.

Leave to cook for 6 hours. Turn the oven off and leave to slowly cool.

Reheat at 180C the next day to serve.

Serve with plain boiled potatoes and gremolata sprinkled on top.

 

 

Buttered & Caramelised Figs

07 Saturday Sep 2013

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BUTTERED & CARAMELISED FIGS

In August the fig trees are so replete with fruit that the birds and I between us cannot eat them all. Caramelised Fig Jam has been made, kilos of fruit have been dried, some figs have been transformed into chutney, and as many as one can eat have been eaten – with Ham, with salty cheese, in salads and just on their own. I have successfully used them to make a Fig Tart – you will find the recipe for that in a previous post – but need a new dessert recipe.

This experiment was a success and as the August figs are so sweet, doesn’t need any added sugar. The key to getting it right is not to be afraid to keep cooking. If you stop cooking too early the figs will not have a caramel flavour, so if you let them cool a bit and taste them and they don’t seem done enough, don’t worry, just put them back on the heat and cook some more until they have a faint caramel aroma and a stickiness where they are in contact with the heat at the bottom of the pan.

I have now made this dessert twice, and the second time served the figs still warm with fresh cream and the warm toasted hazel nuts, which was very good too.

IMG_0456

Per person

5 ripe figs

10 grams of butter

Wash the figs and dry them in a tea towel.

Cut off the stems and cut the figs into quarters.

Warm the butter in a non-stick frying pan and add the figs.

Cook stirring on a medium heat. The fruit will start to give out some of its juices, continue cooking until these have evaporated.

Keep stirring and cooking until the fruit mixture is dryer and is frying in the butter.

The sugar in the fruit will now start to get hotter and be heading towards caramelising. Keep cooking until you can detect the caramel aroma. The fig mixture will get dryer and tend to stick to the bottom of the pan a bit, but keep going until they are nice and toffee flavoured.

Do not be tempted to taste the figs at this point, they are very hot.

Leave to cool until warm.

Put into ramekin dishes and smooth the tops. Leave to cool to room temperature.

In the frying pan toast to golden some broken and crushed hazel nuts. Leave to cool to room temperature.

When ready to serve loosen the fig mixture from the sides of the dishes with a knife, put a plate on top and upturn the whole to end up with the fig compote on the plate. The butter should stop the fig mix from sticking to the ramekin.

Serve with ice cream and the hazel nuts scattered over.