Fresh fig, gorgonzola and prosciutto salad with lemon-honey dressing

Dried figs are a year round treat, but when July rolls around I get giddy with anticipation for fresh figs.   Knowing my passion for figs (my blog header tells all) my dear husband gifted me with three trees that are finally producing enough of their precious fruit so that I can satisfy my craving!   I’m a lucky girl!   I’ve beaten the pesky birds and bugs many mornings to enjoy them fresh off the tree, standing in the shade created by their large leaves.  Restraint was difficult, but restrain myself I did!  I saved a batch and made fig ice cream to die for, fig chutney (recipe will come soon) and several fig-inspired salads. 

If you ask me, there is no sweeter or more luscious fruit than a perfectly ripe and juicy black fig.   Technically not a fruit, the fig is actually a flower that is inverted into itself    The skin starts firm and green but ripens to a delicate covering for the pulp within - soft tiny flowers that house its unique nectar.    The skin is actually stem tissue and the pulp is comprised of male and female flower parts with tiny sandy grains that are actually unfertilized ovaries.  The fig was revered by Greek and Roman gods and considered an aphrodisiac and is likened by many a poet to female sexual organs.  Lovely analogy!

Pity me that the season for fresh figs is so short!   Other than their delicious taste, they provide us with numerous benefits:  one cup (149g) contains 58% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of dietary fiber!   Also, 38% of RDA of Manganese, an important enzyme activator;  29% of vitamin K for healthy blood clotting;  29% of Potassium for healthy muscles and nerves;  25% Magnesium and Calcium for strong bones, muscles and blood flow.  And if you’re very active, there’s a substantial amount of natural sugar to keep you moving for a long time!

In my salad, piquant gorgonzola cheese is a perfect match for a syrupy fig.   Add savory prosciutto and you have a winning trifecta!

Fresh figs are best eaten or cooked immediately, or refrigerated for a minimal time (I’d say two days max.).    Since figs are so delicate once they ripen, most producers dry them before shipping around the world.

Fig, gorgonzola and prosciutto salad with Honey-lemon dressing

Adapted from a recipe by Jamie Oliver in The Best American Recipes 2003 – 2004.  Serves 4

4 handfuls mixed salad greens

6 ripe fresh figs, any type

8 thin slices prosciutto or Serrano ham

8 fresh basil leaves

4 ounces gorgonzola or other blue cheese of your choice

Place the salad greens in a large bowl. Cut the stems off the figs and slice them in half lengthwise and add to the salad greens. Roll prosciutto into small tube shapes, if desired, and add to the bowl. Add the basil leaves and crumble the blue cheese on top.  Drizzle generously with Honey-lemon dressing.

Honey-lemon dressing

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a glass jar and shake until well combined.

 

Prijatno!

Fernet Branca marinated fig ice cream

With squinting eyes and a hacking cough I spat out my first gulp of Fernet-Branca.    It’s a common reaction with Fernet virgins – so why didn’t the liquor salesman or the pastry chef warn me?   My startled nostrils and taste buds were screaming Robitussin and Listerine.  The dark brown concoction was highly medicinal with a strong dose of Pine-Sol - and nasty to put it kindly!   After shelling out a pretty penny for the bottle, I realized that I should have done my homework and goggled it before I planned to use it with my small but precious harvest of figs!   Just look at my blog header and you’ll understand my love of figs. 

I considered trashing the bottle but local pastry chef Plinio Sandalio recently tweeted that “fernet branca makes miracles”.   I’m not sure what planet he comes from (ok, I know he’s from Bolivia) but I believe he was thinking “miracles” with desserts.  Upon further research I discovered that Fernet is a miracle potion for those with hangovers!   It’s considered the national drink of Argentina and is wildly popular in San Francisco.  I tried it with iced coke, a common mix which I found a little more palatable, but I was still thinking that I was not going to let this Fernet fool around with my beloved figs!

So who am I to question a professional chef?   As you can see, I sacrificed a few figs to find out that this overzealous digestif does indeed have special powers…when used in small amounts.   I found a marinade in Cooking Light magazine from San Francisco chef Luis Villavelazquez and marinated them for several days…just because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them just yet!   Eventually I decided upon fig ice cream and made a rich custard base from a recipe by ice cream wiz David Lebovitz.   Rich in egg yolks and cream,  the classic custard base was the perfect complement to the brazen marinade. 

The result was brilliant!   We were swooning with delight as we scooped spoonfuls into our mouths.  It was a beautiful marriage of velvety sweet figs, rich custard, and a gentle hint of herbs and spices.   A miracle!

FYI:   Fernet began as a medicinal potion compounded by Bernardino Branca, a chemist in Milan.  It was taken to ease stomach ailments, hangovers and cramps.   The list of ingredients is incredibly long – over 40 with some still remaining a secret.  Based on grapes, it also contains a sizeable portion of saffron, myrrh, mint, cardamom, aloe, mushrooms, fermented beets, coca leaf, gentian, rhubarb, wormwood, zedoary, cinchona, bay leaves, absinthe, orange peel, Echinacea, quinine, ginseng, St. John's wort, sage, galangal, peppermint oil – and the list goes on!  Today it is made by fifth generation Fratelli Branca.  It is aged in oak barrels for 12 months and contains over 40% alcohol.  The alcohol content in the marinade prevents the ice cream from hardening rock solid.  Even after a few days it remained the perfect scooping texture.

A vintage label

Fernet Branca marinated fig ice cream

Fig marinade adapted from Cooking Light, August 2010

¼ cup water

¼ cup honey

1 tablespoon Fernet Branca (a little goes a long way!)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

pinch of salt

6 fresh figs, stems removed and then quartered

Combine water, honey, Fernet Branca, lemon juice and salt in small saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Place figs in a glass container.  Pour marinade over figs and cover.  Refrigerate for up to 3 days - the longer the better!  Keep chilled until ready to add to the Custard base.

 

Custard base adapted from David Lebovitz’s Vanilla Ice Cream recipe in The Perfect Scoop

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

Combine the milk, salt, sugar and heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Scoop out ¼ cup milk and set aside.

Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl to combine. While whisking, add ¼ cup milk drop by drop to warm the eggs and prevent them from curdling. Pour the egg mixture into the milk in the saucepan and whisk continuously. Return saucepan to the heat and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute until it thickens slightly and then set aside to cool completely. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions for 10 minutes. When ice cream starts to thicken, slowly add the marinade but hold back the figs.   Continue to freeze in the ice cream maker (about 10 more minutes) and then add the figs.  Freeze until well blended and set.  Transfer to a container and freeze.

 

Prijatno!

Fabulous Figs!

Figs 

by D.H. Lawrence

The proper way to eat a fig, in society,

Is to split it in four, holding it by the stump,

And open it, so that it is a glittering, rosy, moist, honied, heavy-petalled four-petalled flower.

Then you throw away the skin

Which is just like a four-sepalled calyx,

After you have taken off the blossom, with your lips.

But the vulgar way

Is just to put your mouth to the crack, and take out the flesh in one bite.

Read the rest of D.H. Lawrence’s freeform poem here but be forewarned – it continues with a luscious description of a fig as female parts!  Peaked your interest, didn’t I?

My blog header is evidence that I am an ardent fig lover.  I cannot resist it’s velvety smooth skin, sweet and succulent flesh, and delicate seeds.  My wine group will attest to the fact that I’ve trespassed and stolen a few during trips to Provence and Oregon!  Knowing this, they generously indulge me during fig season.  Ralph’s latest offering was figs stuffed with Rogue Creamery’s Smokey Blue Cheese wrapped in the thinnest slices of prosciutto.  Here’s Helen, another wine buddy, preparing her fig-based appetizer during a recent wine dinner (recipe below).  Love her for it! 

I was not aware that there are poems about figs, or proper ways to eat a fig, but I must fit in the ‘vulgar’ category!  I usually first take a bite of the entire fig (why trash the skin?) and admire the juicy red flowers inside.  Fresh and ripened on the vine is best, if you can beat the early birds.  And eat soon after harvesting as they sour quickly.

Husbie is experimenting with varieties that grow successfully along the Texas coast.  The recent drought did not bode well for our trees this year but we did manage to harvest enough of the Brown Turkey variety for a grilled pizza with goat cheese, pancetta and freshly ground black pepper.   With a spring salad on the side, you be the judge!

The fig is believed to be the first food source to be cultivated over 11,000 years ago in the Lower Jordan Valley in Israel and it subsequently became a staple for people in the Mediterranean.  It is the first fruit to be mentioned in the Bible and is referenced many times thereafter.  Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together to make ‘aprons’ (Genesis 3:7).  Seven hundred fig trees in moveable pots in the Figuerie at Versailles were tended so as to satisfy the desires of Louis XIV .  Thanks to the innovative methods used by the head gardener, La Quintinie, the trees were able to supply figs for six months of the year. 

Due to it’s high nutritional content, figs were especially valuable to the athletes in Ancient Greece.  Figs are high in calcium, fiber, potassium and a variety of antioxidants.  Figs were used by the Greeks and Romans to stuff geese so as to fatten their livers.  It was known as ficatum, now foie gras in France.   Oh how I would love to taste a fig-fattened foie gras and compare it to the corn-fed liver.  Helen, what do you say about getting us a couple of geese and some figs…?

 Grilled Figs with Mascarpone, Mint, Port and Prosciutto from Sharing the Vineyard Table by Carolyn Wente and Kimball Jones.

8 fresh figs

¼ cup non-vintage port

3 tablespoons mascarpone

4 very thin slices prosciutto

4 large mint leaves, for garnish

Cut off the ends of the figs and split in half lengthwise. Macerate in the port for an hour. Prepare a small fire in your grill and cook the figs for a moment on each side, just enough to warm the figs and give them a smoky flavor. They should remain firm. Spoon or pipe the mascarpone onto the cut sides of the figs, dividing it evenly. Cut the prosciutto into sixteen 1-inch wide strips. Wrap around the figs. Place on a serving platter. Slice the mint into very thin strips (chiffonade) and sprinkle over the figs.

The beautiful earthenware you see in these pictures are my sister’s fig plates in Oiseau Bleu by Gien. You’ll be seeing more of this striking collection in future posts, I’m sure. 

To end, here’s a silly limerick by Edward Lear that will describe me later in life (hopefully!):

There was an Old Person of Ischia,
Whose conduct grew friskier and friskier;
He danced hornpipes and jigs,
     and ate thousands of figs,
That lively Old Person of Ischia.

Prijatno!

I say tomahto…

We have been enjoying the produce of our small vegetable patch this summer.  Every March, when we plant ours, I especially look forward to gorging on home-grown organic tomatoes and it doesn’t get much better than these purple heirlooms (next to my all time favorites – figs!). 

This is a traditional Srpska Salata - Serbian Salad.  Sliced tomatoes, green pepper, red onion, with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper.   And Husbie says KISS - Keep It Simple Sam! 

Who can resist Insalata Caprese?  A perfect stack with thick slices of mozzarella and basil leaves nestled between sliced tomatoes and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil:

 What do you do with a mango, a tomato and a jalapeno pepper?  Why, you make Salsa!

To balance the sweetness of the mango, I add red onion, lemon juice and lots of cilantro:  You can never have too much cilantro, if you ask me!

Tomato Mango Salsa on grilled salmon – refreshing summer fare:

Cherry tomatoes in potato salad:

On whole grain bread with melted feta cheese and oregano – bringing out the Balkan in me!

By now, I’m battling the birds and the stinkbugs.  The netting I have cast seems to be keeping the birds at bay, but the stinkbugs have struck overnight.  They are my biggest enemy during tomato season because they suck the Dickens out of the fruit and leave disease and rot behind.  We refuse to use pesticides and one year my daughter and I went out to do battle with our tweezers.  Yes, tweezers!  Stinkbugs aren’t fast, you see, so it was easy to pick them off and stomp them in the ground…as you can imagine, it was sooo time-consuming.  Needless to say, we lost the battle after a couple of days. 

I thought about spraying vinegar…nah, it’ll kill the plant.  My next means of attack is per Husbie’s suggestion – the vacuum cleaner!  Brilliant!  I can see myself with the suction hose, grinning from ear to ear, as those suckers enter the bag, never to pester my home-grown tomahtoes again!  I’ll let you know if it works! 

 

Prijatno!