FIGS!

Figs, FT readers! I love them! My budget always breaks in the supermarket when I reach the fig aisle - oh some might go for the dried prunes inna bag, some might go for the dried APPLE inna bag (yuck!), but not for me! Sainsburys Organic Figs YUM YUM in my belly. Mouth-wateringly advertised as “partially rehydrated”, they are the IDEAL sweet snack for anyone craving a sugar hit straight from the bag on their own! And who CARES if they have an “effect”? That’s only if you eat the whole bag in go! Like what I do!! But since when was poo-ing a bad thing anyway???

However, my problem with FIGS is that, aside from scoffing straight from bag, I’m a bit SCARED to do anything else with them. And this is dried figs. Fresh figs PETRIFY me. I have read a GRILLION gourmets rhapsodising about the quivering freshness of figs straight from the tree and as such the one soggy looking ‘fresh’ fig in the supermarket (that I spotted ONCE, readers) lacked a certain appeal. John Ruskin had to go all the way to Assisi for his - writing, “Catherine brought me up as a great treat yesterday at dinner, ham… and a plate of raw figs, telling me I was to eat them together”!

“Figs and ham? That sounds nice”, I think, 132 years later. But will that also work with the driedpartially rehydrated fig merrily waiting for me in the fridge? Is it even worth attempting, or should one take a (fig)leaf out of Jane Grigson’s book and STEAM the fig first? It seems almost worth it, especially when one sees Tony Tobin’s Poached figs with port (for one) - HE KNOWS HIS AUDIENCE eh readers?? Me, I can see the fig going well with a Lancashire cheese on it’s own, or with bananas for a pudding (it occurs to me that perhaps I’m just thinking purple+yellow = YUM, argh Cadburys it is all your fault!!) - I just need to get over my fear of UTILISING THE FIG!

 Thus, I plan to attempt:

Fig rolls

Fig compote; and, amazingly..

DEEP FRIED FIGS!

 But where are the recipes for… FIGGY PUDDING?

1. FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 21st, 2006

   pigs –> pork scratchings
   figs –> fork scratchings!!

2. FT's Sarah on August 21st, 2006

   Start with 10g Muscavada sugar then add 1.5g each of ground Cinnamon, Mace, Ginger and Nutmeg with 30g of plain flour.

   Now add 1/4 of a bottle of stout, Guinness will do. Combine this with 30g of vegetarian suet.

   Mix in 38g of mixed dried fruit peel, 30g of currants, 38g dried sultanas and 55g of raisins. Add a pinch of salt to taste.

   Now add a half an orange and lemon with one and a half eggs.

   Finally mix in 0.5 ltrs of milk and 15g of flaked almonds.

   Boil it and steam it for approx. 4 hours for the initial cook.

   Leave it to rest until cold and then prior to eating boil and steam for another four hours.

   The longer you steam it the darker and richer it becomes.

3. FT's Sarah on August 21st, 2006

   What is Mace anyway??

   Yr pal, Ma$e.

4. FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 21st, 2006

   it’s a sort of deodorant

   PIGGY FUDDING

5. FT's mark c on August 21st, 2006

   mace = a spice. it is the flaky stuff from round the edge of a nutmeg or something

6. FT's CarsmileSteve on August 21st, 2006

   mace is the outer casing of THE NOBLE NUTMEG, it is nice. for some reason i can’t remember what i use it in at the moment…

   however, whenever i use it i find myself singing “mace” by blur (yes, that’s right, a popscene b-side, oh dear)

7. Emma on August 22nd, 2006

   I have done this with fresh figs: cut the top open and shove a bit of cheese in (e.g. goat’s cheese, blue cheese etc). Wrap a bit of parma ham around it, stick in the oven for a bit till cheese melts and ham crisps a bit, eat = tasty starter that impressed my parents a while back.

8. FT's tracerhand on August 22nd, 2006

   emma that sounds like an EXTREME cousin of the prunes-wrapped-in-bacon-and-grilled french standby aperatif

9. FT's Pete Baran on August 22nd, 2006

   Angels (Devils) On Horseback?