I love figs; my grandmother used to have a huge fig tree in her garden and we grandchildren used to love “helping” picking them up. Turkey produces some of the finest figs; they are sweet, juicy and darker than the average fig, especially the Bursa variety.
Figs are packed with fiber; they are not only delicious but very healthy too. It is so wonderful to eat just plain; what a treat to have them by the salad for lunch or for a special treat. But if you’d like to turn them into an easy, healthy, delicious dessert, here is the recipe, an adaptation from Ghillie Basan’s version:
Serves 2-4
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes Baking time: 5-8 minutes
4 ripe (preferably) Turkish figs
15ml-30ml/1-2 tablespoons clear honey
30ml-45ml/2-3 tablespoons clotted cream (or kaymak, Turkish clotted cream or crème fraiche or plain yoghurt)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Preheat oven to 180F/350C
Using a sharp knife, cut a deep cross from the top of each fig to the bottom, keeping the skin at the bottom intact. Place the figs upright in a baking dish.
Drizzle the honey and the lemon juice over the figs and bake in the oven for about 5-8 minutes. Take out the baking tray from the oven. Spoon a dollop of clotted cream or yoghurt into the middle of each fig, or serve them in bowls and let everyone help themselves with yoghurt or cream.
Afiyet Olsun,
Ozlem
In fig season here taht is exactly how I would eat it.It is such a delicasie;)
Nice to hear from you Dzoli:)
Enjoy the figs!
Ozlem
Hi Özlem! Are you back in the UK now? Hope you had a wonderful time over here! How great that you can get Turkish figs at M&S;!!!
We are in Provence right now and guess what: on Friday we are having lunch with Barbara from Cuisine de Provence!!!! Am looking forward to it tremendously.
Merhaba Claudia,
Great to hear from you! Yes, I am back to England and we are back to school full swing! I am thrilled to hear you will be having lunch with Barbara, fantastic! How I wished to be there!! Bon Apetite to you both:)
Ozlem
Just had lunch with Claudia and her very nice husband and guess what we had for dessert? A little tart with the last figs from our tree! And we talked about you and your blog which we both love to read!
Ahh, really wished to be there with you and Claudia, Barbara, it must be wonderful to meet up – and enjoy your delicious food:)- Many thanks for your kind words, I very much enjoy both of yours too:)
happy eating,
Ozlem
Thanks for sharing this. I wandered into Waitrose today and saw some Turkish Bursa figs on special offer. So, of course, I followed your advice and baked them. Truly delicious. (I didn't have any cream so served them with marmalade ice cream instead. Sounds odd, but it worked for me.)
You are welcome Phil, I am glad you could get the Bursa figs. I did try the figs with vanilla ice cream too, they do work.
By the way, really enjoyed strolling thru your blog:)
Ozlem
Can I have your Kaymak recipe I would appreciate Thank you.I love to make it from home.
Merhaba Lucy, I haven’t made kaymak at home, as you need to have the milk from the water buffalos, but clotted cream really works well, hope you can find and this helops, best wishes, Ozlem