I made this a few days ago, but what better time to pull out old recipes than when I’m out of cooking commission? Joe even had to tend to our pizza dough last night!
This semi-spicy fig jam recipe goes best with cheese. The best I could do at the time was cheddar, and sadly the best crackers i had around were saltines. It was very, very tasty – the only shame is that the cheese and crackers didn’t do the good jam justice.
- 1 1/2 C diced fresh figs (6-10 figs, depending on the size of the figs)
- 1/2 C seeded, peeled orange, diced (up to 1 small navel orange diced)
- 1 1/2 C of sugar (I used 1 C)
- 1 1/2 t grated orange peel
- 3 T lemon juice
- 1/4 t ground ginger
- 1/4 t ground cloves
- 1/2 t cinnamon
- 1/2 t butter
step 1:
Combine all the ingredients in a microwave safe container and let it sit for 30 minutes. This lets the fruit macerate in the sugar.
step 2:
Microwave on high for 7 minutes, stop cooking, and stir. Continue cooking for another 6 minutes, stopping to stir ever couple minutes. After a total of about 13 minutes, the mixture should become viscous.
step 3:
Test the jam’s viscosity with a spoon. If the liquid begins to firm up before it drips, it is done. I plan to finish eating mine within a week, so I have it refrigerated in a plastic container. If you want to save it long term, check out the USDA canning guidelines here.
This is an adaptation of the ‘Fall Fruit Crumble’ recipe featured recently on Gourmet.com. I almost made this last week, but made a pear tart instead. Compared to that – this felt like a break!
I used the four fall fruits that I had around the kitchen and were on the verge of expiration. The tart apples nicely countered the sweetness of the figs and plums. I think i could have used just 1 t lemon juice.
Fruit Filling:
- 3 tart apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 5 Italian plums, pitted and cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 6 black figs, quartered
- 1 Bosc pear (leftover from my pear tart experiment), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1 1/2 T cornstarch
- 3/4 t vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 t lemon juice
Topping:
- 1 C rolled oats
- 1/2 C all purpose flour
- 1/2 C sugar
- 4 T butter, softened
- pinch of salt
- pinch of cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 425F and mix together cut fruits, 1/2 C sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch in a baking dish.
- In a small bowl, combine all the dry topping ingredients, then use your fingers to blend in the butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
- Bake for 20-30 min (depending on your oven – mine took closer to 30), or until fruit is bubbling and topping turning golden brown.
we broke our friday pizza tradition last week because we went to a friend’s house for a double dinner date. We have a wedding rehearsal dinner coming up this friday, and i just couldn’t bear the thought of no pizza for two whole weeks!
Last night i started a new batch of Bread Baker’s Apprentice pizza Napoletana dough [right after i finished the Brioche (our little kitchen never gets a break)]. The recipe yields 6 personal crusts (i usually have 1/3 left over anyway). Today, i decided to get a little inventive with the toppings. See the dough recipe at 101 Cookbooks.
Sauteed baby bella mushrooms (with garlic) + chopped dried figs + thinly sliced onion + 1/2 t sea salt
it sounds really sorta strange, but it was REALLY good. the figs and sea salt were a nice combination. I sauteed five baby bella mushrooms with a clove of garlic in about 1 t olive oil for 5-7 minutes.
two skinny jenkins 