There is no stopping this fig tree. No matter how ruthlessly I prune its gently twisting branches it seems determined to take over the entire back garden. It is still heavily laden with fruit even now, but few of them will ripen at this point in the year, with most destined for the compost. (I did once make a much-lauded unripened fig chutney, but I’m not sure it was really worth the trouble.) Lucky then that the shops currently have ripe fruit by the basketful.
A self-confessed fig-pig, I have been eating them daily. You can no more eat a lone fig than you can have a single crisp. They have already been split open and stuffed with a mixture of goat’s cheese and thyme; sliced and honeyed; stirred into the roasting juices of a duck and baked with Marsala and mascarpone. Others have been torn open impatiently and wolfed straight from the brown-paper bag.
If you can find them at a reasonable price (Turkish grocers are a good hunting ground), then I recommend knocking up a batch of chutney to accompany pork chops or a pork pie – the fig and the pig are the happiest of culinary bedfellows – or for adding to a parcel of crumbled sheep’s cheese, oregano and filo.
Their seed-studded sweetness will adorn both a baked rice pudding (stir them in at the table) and a rice salad (with brown lentils, caramelised onions and dates). Torn into small pieces they can be folded into a salad of couscous, pumpkin seeds, mint and pomegranates or into the batter for a batch of madeleines. This is the fig’s moment and I shall make the most of it.
Roast pork with spiced figs
The tenderloin is not a cut I use often, because of its lack of fat. And yet it works perfectly here, with a spiced stir-fry of cabbage and red onion. And any that you don’t eat at the time, make a cracking autumn salad. Serves 3
pork tenderloin 550g
olive oil 3 tbsp
red onion 1
cumin seeds 1 tsp
coriander seeds 1 tsp
green cardamom pods 8
cabbage leaves 350g
figs 6
white vermouth 6 tbsp
Make sure the tenderloin is dry to the touch, patting it with kitchen paper if not, then season generously with salt and black pepper. Warm the olive oil in a roasting tin over a high to moderate heat then add the pork and brown lightly, turning it from time to time so all sides colour to an even toasty brown. A matter of 6 or 7 minutes.
Remove the roasting tin from the heat, lift out the pork and leave to rest under a large upturned bowl or a piece of foil.
Peel and thinly slice the red onion. Place the roasting tin over a moderate heat, add the onion to the fat and oil already in the tin, then leave to cook over a moderate heat, with an occasional stir, for 15-20 minutes, until soft and sweet.
Put the cumin and coriander seeds in a mortar. Crack the cardamom pods, extract the tiny brown seeds from within and add them to the spices. Pound to a coarse powder with a pestle. (A spice mill will do it even more quickly.) Stir the ground spices into the onion and continue cooking.
Wash and dry the cabbage leaves, then stack one on top of another and roll them up. Now shred them into ribbons about 2cm thick. Stir the cabbage into the onion, tossing well with 2 spoons or a pair of tongs, to mix everything thoroughly.
Slice the pork into 3cm thick pieces. Cut the figs into quarters, depending on their size. As soon as the cabbage has wilted – about 2 minutes – remove the mix to a warm serving dish and cover. Pour the white vermouth into the pan and let it bubble furiously for 30 seconds, then return the slices of pork and their resting juices, along with the figs, to the pan and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes. Then spoon the meat, figs and juices over the cabbage and onions and serve.
Fig chutney
I like to warm the sugar before adding it to the simmering figs and onions. It avoids the mixture cooling when you add the sugar, and with it the risk of overcooking the figs as it comes back to temperature. Enough to fill a 1-litre preserving jar
onions 250g
malt vinegar 150ml
cider vinegar 150ml
sultanas 250g
salt 1 tsp
allspice 1 tsp
black peppercorns ½ tsp, cracked
coriander seeds 1 tsp
figs 8 large, about 1kg
soft brown sugar 250g
Peel and roughly chop the onions then put them into a large, deep stainless-steel or enamelled saucepan with the vinegars, sultanas, salt, allspice, peppercorns and coriander seeds, and bring to the boil.
Cut each fig into quarters, removing any tough stalks as you go, then add them to the pan. Lower the heat and leave the preserve to simmer for 30 minutes until the onions and fruit are soft.
While the onions cook, set the oven to 160C/gas mark 3. Tip the soft brown sugar into a heatproof dish and let it warm for a few minutes in the oven, then stir into the simmering fruit and onions, turning the heat down so the chutney bubbles only gently. Leave for 10-15 minutes, with the occasional stir to stop it sticking, until the mixture is thick and jam like. Bottle while hot and seal.
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