Recipe- Fig and Apple Pie

One of the best things to freeze with figs is… Fig and Apple Pie. It’s great fresh, from the fridge, but can be frozen and thawed with great results. It’s a little bit of fall in the midst of any season.

First, take 2 granny smith apples, peel and core. Then slice evenly, no more than 1/4″ thick slices.

Second, rinse, destem, and then slice your figs in three equal top to bottom slices.

Place both in a cooking pot, and add fresh grated nutmeg (if you have it) 1/2 tsp, honey (1 tbsp), cinnamon 1 tbsp, 2 tbsp of corn starch and 1/3 of a cup of water. Mix/stir

Slowly heat up apples, and keep on burbling heat for 10 -15 minutes, until it thickens and you can see a brown, seedy mix around the apples and figs.

Cook your pie shells in the over for 10 minutes at 350-400 depending upon elevation and humidity… Then add filling and cook until crust is brown and pie looks even. Take out and let cool.. I recommend serving with vanilla gelato and some whipped cream.

The key is to get very tart apples and not overdo the honey, so the natural sweetness of the figs comes out.

It’s tasty and a great gift for later in the year.

Recipe- Drunken Figs

Near the middle of the fig season, we begin to get a little overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of figs our two trees produce. In addition to jams, preserves, jellies, pies, dried, and frozen… we are now also… getting them drunk!

Figs in smooth bourbon with walnuts and lemon zest.

I’d like to say there’s something complicated about this recipe, but is it very, very, simple. First get an airtight jar or two… we like ball canning jars.

Second, wash and then dry off figs in the middle of ripeness, i.e. yellow with some green… not brown (which is best for pies, not this recipe).

Then cut the bottom with a paring knife in an “x” shape, and then take a walnut piece and place it into the center of the fig.

Then put the figs in the jar.

Cover with extra smooth brandy or cognac, we use Korbel’s extra smooth brandy from California.

Zest 1/2 a lemon and place the zest in the jar on top of the figs.

Close the jar and put in a dark, dry place for a few months.

Come back and enjoy!

We recommend you take the remaining brandy and heat it up on a sauce pan with an apple or pear jam (something without a strong flavor), which will then turn into a lovely syrup. You could use some simple syrup and a little starch to thicken to achieve the same result. Some folks like it with Cinnamon as well, but that’s up to you.

Cooking from the Garden

One of the most exciting things about harvest is the benefit of fresh farm to table ingredients. But its also a challenge, to decide what to do with an overabundant crop.

For figs, we have them raw, in salads, with cottage cheese, grilled with honey vinegrette, in pasta, jams, and pie fillings. This year we’re trying chocolate filled with a whiskey granache and an exterior dark chocolate coating. It’s tasty, but the drying takes several days.

We also started making our own ground pepper, and it’s *hot* but also very flavorful.

Tomatos, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, blackberries, asparagus, bell peppers, apples, and the like are fairly standard… but our southern classic is… THE TOMATO SANDWICH.

Take a german queen heirloom tomato in a large slice 1/4″ or more, salt and pepper the slice. Place on cheap white bread, after covering the bread with mayonaise. Then place a yellow cheddar or american cheese slice on it…. ENJOY.

Still to come this year are corn, sweet potatos, canteloupe, watermelon, mushrooms, and a few other southern staples… so watch for pictures.