At the Editor's Table
Join Editor Francine Spiering at her table as she prepares and shares some of her favorite adventures in the kitchen!
What do you do when you’re pressed for time, invited people over for dinner, and then forgot half the ingredients you needed for a dessert you had in mind?
You rummage frantically through pantry, fridge and freezer, hoping for the best and inspiration for an emergency-dessert.
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried (even dried-out) figs
- 2 strips fresh lemon peel
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 cup (raw) local honey
- ½ cup water
- good, artisanal chocolate (and orange) ice cream
Instructions
Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature and braise gently for 30-45 minutes, or until the figs are soft and soaked with the honey-based braising liquid.
Enjoy!
About this recipe
What do you do when you’re pressed for time, invited people over for dinner, and then forgot half the ingredients you needed for a dessert you had in mind?
You rummage frantically through pantry, fridge and freezer, hoping for the best and inspiration for an emergency-dessert.
Turns out I was in luck. In my freezer, I found a tub of “whipped and licked” chocolate ice cream with surprises of candied orange peel.
In my pantry slightly dried-out dried figs and an unopened jar of raw honey from Big Creek Farms in Shepherd, Texas.
There was lemon in the fruit bowl, and in my garden the rosemary seemed not at all disturbed by the ongoing cold spell.
Only minutes later, the figs, halved, were braising gently in the honey, lemon peel and a sprig of fresh rosemary. Dessert came together so unexpectedly, that I laughed out loud when I tasted the figs.
And so, an emergency “thrown together” dessert turned into a bowl bursting with sweet, aromatic flavors: herbal notes of the rosemary, a refreshing lift of the lemon peel, and the natural sweetness of good honey, not to mention the scoop of handcrafted, dark chocolate and candied orange ice cream served on top. It did a makeover on those dried-out figs you wouldn’t believe!
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