Our week that was: Gardens & nature

There’s been so much rain around in the past week, but we’ve been lucky enough to have a couple of well-timed windows of sunshine. My local branch of the Women’s Institute has had another outdoor visit in the diary for a while, and it proved to be anything but a washout. I’ve popped out into the garden – between showers – to pick sweet pea flowers and fig leaves. Ditto to take the dog for a walk; alas, we did manage to get soaked on a couple of occasions!

Trawsgoed Mansion

This week, my WI had a visit to the garden at the nearby Trawsgoed Mansion. We felt privileged to be invited (the owner is a friend of one of the members) to have a look around such a wonderful and historically important place. The mansion (and its grounds) is currently for sale – it really needs a buyer who’s willing and able to restore it to its former glory – there’s so much potential!

Butterflies

Buddleia is at its peak at the moment, and my little video clip and photos show why it’s referred to as the ‘butterfly bush’. This particular buddleia shrub grows out in the wild on one of my dog-walking routes and was literally abuzz with all kinds of butterflies, bees and other insects. A few of them managed to stay still long enough for me to capture their beauty!

Fig syrup

We’re lucky enough to have three small fig trees in our garden, one of which should give us a crop of about a dozen fruits this year. The long hot spell really suited them this year!

I picked about half a dozen of the younger leaves to make some fig syrup. I’ve not tasted it before; apparently, it’s meant to have a flavour reminiscent of coconut and vanilla. I’ve never made it before, either, so I only made a small batch in case I don’t like it. I’ll let you know what I think next week. I’m planning to use it as a cordial with fizzy water and as an alternative to maple syrup on pancakes and waffles. Here’s the recipe in case you want to try it yourself:

Fig syrup

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Course Condiment

Ingredients

250 g granulated sugar
250 ml boiling water
½ tsp citric acid
6 small fig leaves washed & patted dry

Instructions

Push the washed & dried fig leaves into the bottom of a sterilised glass jar
Put the sugar into a measuring jug and pour over the boiling water. Stir to dissolve completely
Add the citric acid and stir again until dissolved
Carefully pour the boiling syrup over the fig leaves in the jar. Immediately fasten the lid/stopper and give the contents a gentle swirl
Leave to steep for at least 24 hours and up to a week
Remove the leaves and discard
Reseal the jar or decant into a sterilised bottle, refrigerate and use the syrup within a month

Keyword figs, syrup

Cakes & Bakes: Fig & pecan cookies

Justin is quite a porridge maestro and makes it often, particularly in the cold winter months. He has a variety of ingredients that he turns to – nuts & dried fruits, in particular. One favoured combination that we’ve had a few times recently is fig and pecan which works really well. It got me thinking about whether this delicious blend would make good cookies… I couldn’t see why not.

So I rustled up a cookie dough and folded in the aforementioned ingredients. I then dropped spoonfuls on to the prepared baking tray; if you like your cookies to look a little less rustic, you can roll portions between the palms of your hands to form balls. Don’t forget to flatten them with your fingers or the back of a spoon.

The cookies are like fig rolls… only better! They’re certainly going to be making a regular appearance in our biscuit tin!

Click here or on the image below to save my fig & pecan cookie recipe to Pinterest

Fig & pecan cookies

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Cook Time 12

Servings 16 cookies

Equipment

large mixing bowl
wire whisk
rubber spatula
baking sheet

Ingredients

150 g butter softened
85 g demerara sugar
1 medium egg
150 g plain flour
50 g pecans roughly chopped
100 g soft figs roughly chopped

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6
Grease & line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
In a large mixing bowl and using a wire whisk, cream together the softened butter and demerara sugar
Add the egg and whisk until fully incorporated
Sift over the flour and fold in using a rubber spatula
Stir in the chopped figs and chopped pecans until they are distributed evenly through the cookie dough
Using a tablespoon, drop spoonfuls (about 40 grams each) onto the prepared baking sheet. Leave a couple of centimetres between each as the dough spreads a little
Flatten each with the back of a spoon. You can wet the spoon prior to avoid the dough sticking to it
Sprinkle the top of each with a little granulated sugar to give them a bit of a crunch
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies begin to brown around the edges
Allow the cooked cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack
Repeat stages 7-11 until all the cookie dough has been used

Keyword biscuits, cookies, figs, pecans

Cakes & Bakes: Fig rolls

A biscuit recipe twice in as many weeks. We’re on a roll! This week, I’ve made a batch of delicious fig rolls… nothing like those dry horrors you tend to get in the shops. The pastry is buttery, crumbly and melt in the mouth; the filling is sweet, figgy and boozy – just lovely!

Jacobs is the brand that most people in the UK associate with fig rolls. Americans have Fig Newtons and the French, Figolu.

There’s a fair amount of debate online on the subject of, “Fig rolls: slice before or after baking?”. I decided to conduct my own experiment to find out.

I’ve decided that I prefer them to be sliced before. The pastry is neater and the fig filling softly oozes using this method.

Disagree with my opinion? Have a look at my photographic proof below! The two on the left were sliced prior to cooking, and the pair on the right, after.

If you’ve given industrially manufactured fig rolls a try, not liked them and have turned your back on them – try making your own. Believe me, you’ll wonder what took you so long to embrace them!

Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest for future reference.

Fig rolls

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Cook Time 20

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Servings 16

Ingredients

For the pastry

125 g/4½oz plain flour
75 g/2⅔oz plain wholemeal flour
25 g/¾oz ground almonds
½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp caster sugar
Pinch of salt
140 g/5oz cold butter diced
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp milk

For the filling

200 g/7oz dried figs stems removed, roughly chopped
Juice of ½ a lemon
2 tbsp dark rum
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp muscovado sugar
½ tsp mixed spice
1 egg beaten

Instructions

For the pastry

In a food processor or large mixing bowl, combine the flours, ground almonds, baking powder, caster sugar and salt in a large bowl or food processor
Pulse/rub in the butter to make crumbs
Mix in the egg yolk and just enough milk to bring it together into a coherent dough
shape into a rough rectangle, wrap and chill for about ½ an hour

For the filling

In a small saucepan, bring the figs 2 tbsp water, 2tbsp dark rum, lemon juice, sugar and spice to a simmer. Cook gently for a few minutes until softened
Remove from the heat and allow to cool

To combine

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Lightly flour a work surface and roll the pastry out to around 20cmx30cm and ½cm thick. Cut in half lengthwise to make 2 long strips
Put a line of filling down one side of each, leaving a slight gap between it and the edge
Brush the edge with water and fold the pastry over the top of the filling pressing down gently to seal
Cut into 4cm lengths and arrange on the baking sheet
Brush the tops with beaten egg before baking for 20-25 minutes until golden brown
Allow to cool on a wire rack before eating

Keyword biscuits, figs

Cakes & Bakes: Fig, almond and walnut loaf

Recently, we’ve been challenging ourselves to get by on a weekly food budget of £30.00 for two. We’ve been managing very well to date; buying carefully, preparing sauces in bulk (some which we freeze for future meals) – and using up tinned foods that have been half-forgotten in the cupboard.

One of those tins were these Baldji’s Kalamata fresh figs in syrup. I think I bought them over a year ago with the intention of making some sort of dessert. After looking for a little online inspiration, I found a River Cottage recipe for fig, almond and walnut loaf.

Their recipe included dried figs and water so I simply used the equivalent weight of the tinned figs and their syrup. I also needed to double the cook time from 20 to 40 minutes.

Once the mixture was ready to put into the tin and on to the oven, I must admit, it didn’t look promising. It had the colour and consistency of refried beans. A bit of a grey, purple, sludgy slop!

Luckily, looks were deceiving as it turned out very well – delicious in fact. A few people have tried it – some would prefer it a little sweeter; so sugar, Stevia or agave could be added. We found that a drizzle of honey on the top of a slice was the perfect addition. The flavour works really well with the figs and gives that extra sweetness too.

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest for later.

Fig, almond and walnut loaf

2017-08-09 16:24:23

Ingredients

100g/3½oz dried figs
100ml/3½ fl oz water
60g/2oz walnuts
175g/6oz ground almonds
3 large eggs
80g/3oz melted coconut oil or unsalted butter
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cider vinegar
Pinch of salt

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Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C/300ºF/Gas mark 2
Line a 500g/1lb loaf tin with baking parchment
Roughly chop the figs and add them with the water to a small saucepan over a medium heat. Simmer gently until most of the water is absorbed
Blitz the figs in a food processor until they form a coarse paste
Add the ground almonds and process again until damp crumbs form
Add the walnuts and salt and process again briefly until they're coarsely chopped. Set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat eggs and bicarbonate of soda with an electric hand whisk until frothy
Whilst still beating, slowly drizzle in the coconut oil/butter in a thin stream and continue beating until the eggs are pale, thick and doubled in volume
Sprinkle vinegar over the eggs and beat briefly to distribute evenly. Work quickly as the vinegar will activate the bicarbonate of soda
Tip the nut mixture onto the eggs and fold in thoroughly with a metal spoon until the nuts are evenly distributed
Scrape into the prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean. Give the loaf more time to bake and perhaps turn the temperature down if it browns too fast
Cool on a wire rack before eating

Notes

You can store the loaf in an air-tight container in a cool place for up to 3 days - or slice & freeze for up to 2 weeks

By Naomi Devlin

Adapted from River Cottage

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