Simple Garden Recipes: Mission Figs

21 August 2012

36 Comments

Grilled Black Mission figs. Just add honey and goat cheese for a classic dessert.

While we try as much as we can to eat from our own garden and orchard, sometimes we get impatient and succumb to temptation. And that is the case with mission figs. Ours are coming in, but still a few weeks away. Meanwhile the farmers market is just brimming with ripe, beautiful, black mission figs. And we are huge fans of mission figs, so we gave in and bought some. Whatever feelings of guilt we had, if any, didn’t last long.

And if you enjoy figs, you know why we had to give in. There are few fruits so pretty, sweet, juicy and easy to enjoy- figs are easy to love (good for you, too). And it has been that way for thousands of years. Figs are one of our oldest and most established foods, and were a treat in almost all the early mediterranean cultures. Greco-Roman mythology, the Bible and the Koran are filled with references to figs, and even the Buddha achieved enlightenment under a fig tree. It’s safe to say that figs have been enjoyed for quite some time.

And our first fig dish may literally be thousands of years old. It simply combines grilled figs, honey and goat cheese (and some herbs if you like). As we ate the dish, and it was just great, we had to think about how long the ingredients have been around. Honey, goat cheese and figs were all delicacies in ancient Egypt. We don’t know if they grilled or caramelized the figs, and we hope they did, but we have no doubt they enjoyed a dish similar to this one. That struck us as kinda cool…

Grilled Figs with Honey and Goat Cheese.

To make the dish, you simply heat a grill or grill pan over high heat. Then lightly brush the figs with vegetable oil and place them on the hot grill and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until the figs caramelize and soften. Then remove from the heat drizzle with honey and add some fresh goat cheese to each fig. You can also add a bit of rosemary and/or thyme to the honey, if you like. (We used our honey, a real treat). And the flavor is very, very good. This dish is openly sweet from the caramelized figs and the honey, but balanced by the slightly sour tang of the goat cheese. You could eat this dish as a starter, but it’s best as a dessert. And if you don’t like cheese in desserts, this recipe will change your mind.

Figs with Blue Cheese, Hazelnuts and Serrano Ham

Our other recipe for figs could be served as a dessert, but we think is best as a starter or light lunch. This dish simply combines sliced ripe figs, blue cheese, hazelnuts and cured ham like Serrano or prosciutto. This is so easy to make, it’s almost hard to call this a “recipe”, but the flavor combinations are truly special. Sweet figs, funky blue cheese, earthy hazelnuts and salty ham cover all the flavors- and multiple textures. A great dish offers an array of flavors and textures so each bite is exciting, and this dish delivers. And it is fun to experiment, just put out a plate and enjoy different combinations.

Our figs are still a few weeks out…

So while we might feel a tiny twinge of guilt that we didn’t wait for our own figs, we feel pretty good about enjoying these figs now. And, by the way, these same dishes will work with other fig varieties like Brown Turkey or Calimyrna. And when you eat figs, take a moment to ponder that you are eating the food of pharaohs and prophets, but you might be getting it just a bit better…

Grilled Figs with Honey and Goat Cheese:

What You Get: A classic, and probably ancient, dessert with fresh figs.

What You Need: No special equipment required.

How Long? 5-10 minutes. Anytime dish when figs are in season.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4 for dessert)

  • 6 fresh figs, halved
  • Vegetable oil (olive oil is fine, but a neutral oil will also work)
  • 4 tablespoons honey
  • 2 oz. fresh goat cheese
  • Fresh thyme or rosemary, for garnish

Assemble:

  1. Heat a grill or grill pan over high heat. Lightly coat the sliced figs with the oil and place, cut side down, on the hot grill. Cook the figs for 1-2 minutes, or until they caramelize and show grill marks. Then flip and cook for 1-2 more minutes and remove from the heat.
  2. Place the fig halves on 4 individual serving plates and drizzle a tablespoon of the honey on each of the plates. Then place a dollop of goat cheese on each fig. Garnish with a sprig of thyme or rosemary, if you like. Serve.

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Figs with Blue Cheese, Hazelnuts and Serrano Ham:

Notes Before You Start:

  • You can substitute any quality cured ham like prosciutto for the Serrano, but if you have access to Serrano- it’s worth it.
  • Vary the amount of ingredients based on how you serve the figs. Assume 2-3 figs per person as a side and 4-5 per person for a larger plate.

What You Get: A very well-balanced starter or light lunch that makes the most of the figs in season. A great dish to serve with wine (Champagne is very good here).

What You Need: No special equipment required.

How Long? 5 minutes of assembly. Anytime dish when figs are in season.

Ingredients:

  • Fresh Figs, halved
  • Blue cheese like Maytag or Point Reyes
  • Roasted hazelnuts
  • Serrano ham, thinly sliced

Assemble:

  1. Slice the figs and arrange on a serving plate. Add the ham, hazelnuts and blue cheese. Serve.
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36 thoughts on “Simple Garden Recipes: Mission Figs”

  2. Figs … just bring them on … in tons !!!! One of my most popular starters is brie filled figs wrapped in Parma ham drizzled with some honey and grilled in the oven. And one of my most memorable dishes was “grilled fresh foie gras with fig jam” at The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.
    This goes on file .. and thanks for the wonderful post and photos.

    Reply

    • Thanks! We certainly agree on figs…just wonderful We also had a fig / foie dish some years back and it was amazing. Sweet fruits and foie are a good match, but the figs were outstanding…

      Reply

      • Yes, figs in any form will do me fine .. and I can stuff myself with fresh ones – we never get them in a good quality and far too expensive.

  5. Ahhhh, to live in a climate where you can say “our figs are a few weeks out…!” I remember making an Ode to California fresh fig and baby kiwi galette in a six week cooking class I offered that had folks swooning – because hot fresh figs
    just have that reaction… I love your referencing back to ancient times and the foods we’ve eaten through out human history – is very cool!

    Reply

    • Thanks! There is something about figs (and dates) that gets us thinking about food and history. It is very cool to eat something basically unchanged and reflect on how much, and how little, the world changes…

      And our climate is just on the edge for figs..they look good now but we are one cold snap away from disappointment…our fingers are crossed.

      Reply

  7. Fabulous, this post screams summer to me, someone elses summer, someone in the Med, sitting near a beach with a blue sea, and eating fresh figs from the market or a nearby tree 🙂
    Looking forward to seeing your figs produce, they look very good from here. We planted a fag tree last year, so it will be a while yet for us……

    Reply

    • Thanks- and we have similar visions of a hillside picnic somewhere in the med…eventually…

      As for the tree, we will confess we transplanted a more mature one to shave off a few years. The gophers ate the entire rootball of our previous tree after a few years. We were so upset we “cheated” a little…and made sure to line the planting area with chicken wire. 😉

      Reply

  9. Yum, this all looks great!

    By the way, I made fig jam recently, inspired by your comment on my fig balsamic dressing post! I left some pretty large pieces of figs, so the jam isn’t smooth enough to use in that recipe, but I was still so happy I tried it : )

    Reply

    • Wow, that sounds great. We actually make a pizza of sliced figs, fontina and proscuitto. But the fig jam / goat cheese sounds great….we will certainly try. Thanks!

      Reply

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  14. Lovely! Thanks for sharing. I’m so jealous… I tasted fresh figs in southern Italy and loved them. The only fresh figs we can get here are imported. Watery, lacking taste, often even mouldy. Not to mention expensive, more than $1 each.

    Reply

    • Thanks. Figs do over-ripen quickly and don’t travel well. In California we almost take them for granted, which is too bad, they are a very special ingredient..

      Reply

  16. one of my close friends has a fig tree. one year, it produced its first fruit {which takes like 10 years, did you know that?!} and we had this little ceremony to cut it and eat it and OMG it was the best fig ever!!! 😉

    Reply

    • Figs off the tree are the best. Didn’t know it took so long for fruit but that makes sense. Most of our fruit trees grew from tiny saplings (and grew quickly) but the fig came in much more mature…maybe the long wait is why…

      Reply

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