Figs

Jan

24

Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam

family recipes  Posted by / 2 comments

figs 1024x768 Aidens Midnight Fig Jam

Frigidaire and Jennifer Garner are teaming up to inspire families everywhere to roll up their sleeves and get cooking together. Starting today, people can join in the Frigidaire Kids’ Cooking Academy ( www.maketimeforchange.com) to get great recipes, how-to videos and tips, all designed to help involve kids in the kitchen.

My kid-friendly recipe is one for a fig jam I made this summer with my grandchildren on a hot night when we couldn’t sleep for the heat.  It was tons of fun making it and I love the idea that every or every post submitted, Foodbuzz and Frigidaire will donate $50 to Save the Children.

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It’s 12:45 a.m after one of the hottest days of summer.  It was 105 degrees!

The grandkids who are visiting for this week can’t sleep, house is too hot and my a/c wall unit is icing over.  What to do, what to do?  In the fridge was a massive bowl of the past two days harvest of figs from our tree just begging me to do something with but it’s been too darned hot.  I took an almost midnight shower and came out to two small children that were hot, grumpy, tired and in need of something, anything to do to get them to relax enough to sleep.  I went to the fridge, saw that big bowl of figs and remembered the jam I had been intending to make.  “Who wants to have a midnight jam session?” I asked the kids.  “We do!”

I had had an idea in mind on how to make my jam, an older recipe that called for cinnamon, lemon rind, fresh figs and sugar but whenever the kids help me cook, things change.  I really like letting them improvise and find their way around my kitchen.  We discuss flavors and ideas all the time.  They’ve been cooking with me since before I started Dona Lupe’s so I’ve learned to trust them the way they trust in me.

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Insomniac grandkids

Aiden took charge of this jam session.  He just turned five on Friday the 20th and was in a very assertive mood.  He handed me a bottle of caraway seed and said, “Grammy use this, it almost smells like figs.”  Into the simmering cinnamon and water it went.  What the heck, how bad could it be?  I searched for lemons but we were out and being midnight by now, we were out of luck with a store.  David suggested the rice vinegar in the pantry for a little acidity and it made sense to me so I added it.  This was so not the jam I had planned on but as we all took turns chopping figs and adding them to the pot, the kitchen was starting to smell amazing.

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Chop, chop, chop

Once the figs were all in the pot, Aiden handed me a jar.  Surprised, I looked down at a square box of chili powder from the Indian store I frequent in Los Feliz.  “Put some of that in Grammy” he said seriously.  I nodded and added about two tablespoons, stirred it in with crossed fingers and tasted.  Oh. My. God.  That was some amazing jam!  Things happen in midnight jam sessions, things you’d never expect but surprisingly sweet and good.

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Jam!

We’re going on 1:00 a.m. now and the kids are drifting off to sleep while Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam is slowly simmering on the stove.  When he wakes tomorrow there will be toast smeared with his jam and the day, however hot it turns out to be will keep that spicy sweetness.

Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam

5 lbs of fresh figs, washed, trimmed and chopped roughly
3 c. Sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 c. of water
Pinch caraway seeds
4 tablespoons of rice vinegar
2 tablespoons of dark red chili powder

Set a large pot with the water and cinnamon stick to boil, then bring to a slow simmer.

Trim off the points and ends of the figs and rough chop them.  Add the caraway seeds to the simmering cinnamon water, the sugar and rice vinegar.  Stir until well blended.

Add the chopped figs, the chili powder and stir slowly.  Let simmer for two hours till well thickened, stirring frequently so the sugar doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of your pot.

Remove the cinnamon stick, let cool and store in Mason jars using proper canning techniques.

Best cooked at midnight to the strains of Luciano Pavaroti (you know we had to listen to Figaro), Lauryn Hill and Trio Los Panchos.  Insomniac grandchildren optional.

Oct

09

A Pumpkin, Some Figs & Some Apples Walk Into a Bar: A Day of Baking Empanadas

baked goods / desserts / family recipes  Posted by / 2 comments
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SDC121533 1024x768 A Pumpkin, Some Figs & Some Apples Walk Into a Bar: A Day of Baking Empanadas

Well, they didn’t walk in and there was no bar, it was empanadas.  I had about 12 pounds of figs left from the last few days of fig harvest on our tree, bought some apples and a nice sized pumpkin the other day at the market.  As soon as I saw the pumpkins, I knew empanadas were happening.  I didn’t count on there being apple and fig ones too but the pumpkin ones were a no-brainer.  Grandkids were coming for the weekend and there was going to be an empanada bakeathon in my kitchen.

A couple of days ago when I bought the pumpkin it was cold.  In fact, I was wearing my Ugg boots and sweater on that market trip.  Even last night when I cooked down the pumpkin it was a bit chilly.  I couldn’t sleep so for some crazy reason, I hopped up at 1a.m threw the whole basket of figs into a pot with some cinnamon and sugar and turned it down to simmer then finally snuggled in with Jasmine, Aiden and Ozzy and eventually slept.  I woke bright and early and got the kids breakfast, took the dog out and surveyed my figs which had cooked down perfectly while I was in dreamland.  When I went to the fridge to get the butter for the masa, I saw the apples and they ended up on the chopping board.  I’m a little obsessed about baking.  Then it hit me that the sun was blazing and I had an oven pre-heating.  Fun.  Oh well – empanadas were happening.

We baked all day.  Empanada after empanada was rolled, filled, pinched, poked, egg washed and baked.  Jasmine turned out to be quite the expert at rolling and forming them.  I’m so proud of her.  Her little rounds fell off her rolling pin in perfect circles.  She is SUCH a baker!  Aiden on the other hand, hmmm.

Aiden decided to take a mixing bowl, fill it with Maseca (corn masa), cinnamon, sugar, salt, milk, warm water, some butter and some mace.  Then he mixed it all up, asking me every so often to taste; which I did reluctantly.  I deserve the Grandma of the Year Award for that one.  When he’d decided it was perfect, he dipped corn tortilla chips in it, pronounced it his gourmet dipping sauce and asked, “I’m a weely good chef, aren’t I Gwaaaamy?”  I said yes, choked down a few more of those chips with as little of the “dipping sauce” as possible and tried to foist the rest off on my son Phillip who wasn’t having any of it.  Wimp.

By the time Marissa got here to pick up her kids the house was filled with the smell of baking, she had two very exhausted kids (they’ll be asleep before they get home) and a basket full of empanadas to go.  I get the messy kitchen and a sad-eyed dog who’s just lost his litter mates (my grandkids).  Sorry Ozzy, it’s going to be a long, lonely week till they’re back again for Wepa Weekend with Grammy.

Empanada Dough

4 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup of butter
Warm water
Egg wash

Mix the dry ingredients well, then cut in the butter.  Add the eggs and enough warm water to mix the dough into a smooth ball.  I add it about 1/4 cup at a time.  You don’t want to work the dough too much, just enough to get it smooth and elastic.  It seems to vary each time I make it depending on the weather or the flour’s absorbency.  My grandmother did the same, worked the water in bit by bit rather than a set amount.  Kinda like pie dough.

Once you have a nice smooth ball, cover it with a damp cloth.  I tend to prefer flour sack because it’s what my grandmother used and it works really well.  It keeps the dough from drying out and since I usually make tons of empanadas whenever I make them, the dough tends to sit for a long time.  Every time the towel dries I just sprinkle a little more water on it.

Form small balls of dough by pinching off a piece.  I say about the size for tortillas.  Keep those covered under the damp cloth as well.  Roll the each ball out to about a 4-inch diameter.  We like our empanadas big here but you can do them smaller.

Scoop a bit of filling into the center, then brush a little water on the edges of the dough.  Fold over.

Press down with your fingers all around the semi-circle then fold the dough over and pinch. Keep doing that all the way around.  It gives the empanadas a double seal and helps keep the filling in.

Take a fork and poke a few air holes into the center of the empanada, then brush with egg wash and place on a greased baking sheet.  Repeat until your baking sheet is full.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.  I go by smell so I never time them.  You want the empanadas golden brown.

Try to wait at least 20 minutes for them to cool or you’ll burn your tongue on the hot filling.

You can fill empanadas with pumpkin, cherries, pineapple, apples, pretty much anything.  Ours were filled with pumpkin, apples and a fig jam.  Some of them were a combination of fig jam and apple and some plain.

Buen provecho!

Sep

07

Fig and Custard Tart

baked goods / desserts  Posted by / 0 comments

figtart1 1024x710 Fig and Custard Tart

I have the little fig tree that could growing in our backyard.  This place we moved into had been left in disrepair and the yard was buried under 6 foot tall weeds and dry brush.  My son Phillip and my roommate David took turns with the weed whacker and one day, we found a fig tree.  It was small, literally buried under weeds, bone dry and yet it was brimming with little green figs.  My heart stopped.  I LOVE figs.

Growing up, whenever we’d go to my Tia Luz’ house she’d have peaches and figs fresh from her trees and they were always so delicious.  Like eating warm candy when you picked them from the tree.  She’d always send my grandmother over baskets full of delicious black mission figs and whenever they’d show up, I’d be jumping up and down dying to get one into my mouth.

We weeded around the little tree, watered it faithfully and it astounded us with it’s bounty.  At first, it was giving about a pound a day which disappeared as soon as we’d pick them.  The following week it was giving about two pounds a day and I made jam.  Just the other day, I went out and picked at least ten pounds.  I sent five of those pounds to a friend in Chicago and we’re still brimming with figs.  More jam is planned.  I want to try a fig marmalade with lemon rind.  The grandkids were here and I felt like making pastry, so I thought, “why not a tart?”

My recipes called for custard with the tart but I wanted something lighter and then I found a Greek-based custard recipe here with one of my fellow Foodbuzz Featured Publishers.  It was almost what I wanted, but of course I changed it.  I can’t help myself.  Can never leave a recipe alone.

I used Julia Child’s perfect pie crust recipe because it’s my favorite flaky pie dough and is uber simple.  I didn’t use honey for the custard, I used a syrupy balsamic with agua de azahares (orange flower water) and tangerine zest.  I loved the tart but the next time I make it, I’ll slice the figs thinner like I would for a French Apple Tart.  I halved these and while it was good and everyone loved it, it was a little much.

Custard (adapted from Gastronomer’s Guide)

2 pounds ripe black Mission Figs, sliced
16 ounces of plain Greek yogurt
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
3 tablespoons balsamic cream plus more to drizzle on figs
Zest of two tangerines or oranges
1 tsp. Orange flower water

Mix together the yogurt, eggs and 1/4 cup of the sugar till well blended.  Add the balsamic creme, tangerine zest and orange flower water and mix.  If the mixture seems runny, don’t worry it will set just fine.

Pour the mixture into a pre-baked tart shell – I used a large oval baking dish so if you are using a smaller one you will have enough batter for two possibly.  Arrange the sliced figs all over the custard, slightly layering them.  Drizzle more balsamic cream over the figs and sprinkle with the remaining two tablespoons of sugar.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the custard is set and the crust and figs are well browned.

Allow tart to cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving to give the custard time to set firmly and the juices from the figs to soak in.  Serve warm.

Jun

29

Daring Bakers Challenge #4 – Danish Braids

baked goods / Challenges  Posted by / 12 comments

dscf6728 300x225 Daring Bakers Challenge #4 – Danish Braids

When I first saw this challenge posted, my first thought was, “oh holy crap no, there’s no way I can make that, I’m skipping this month,” but then I shook myself off and started thinking about fillings. The fillings got me going and as I read through the recipe, it actually didn’t seem that hard. Watching the video helped immensely (thanks to our hosts for providing that link) and I found other videos on Youtube that helped as well. I was starting to get excited about this recipe.

I ran into a few small snags. One was the weather here in Los Angeles. It was so hot I was calling in it Hell A instead of L.A. I worried that my dough wouldn’t hold the butter so I kept putting it off, hoping for cooler weather. One morning I woke up and decided to head off to Silverlake for ingredients. I neglected to check the weather and only when I was there did I find it was 110 degrees! Still I was dressed for the weather and determined to get what I needed. It turned out to be quite the odyssey.

For my fillings I wanted one to have something to do with these amazing glazed, roasted figs I had found a few months ago at The Cheesestore in Silverlake. I was lucky and found the one package they had left which caused a bit of consternation. Would it be enough? I quickly decided that chopped Fuji apples would be great with the figs and Brie and would augment my small quantity of the figs. The second braid would be filled with brandied cherries and dark chocolate, a little homage to someone I care deeply about whose favorite cake is Black Forest. To find out more about my crazy day hunting ingredients in 100-degree weather, check out my L.A. Journal.

I also sweet-talked my brother into taking me on a separate day to the Indian store I love in Los Feliz. They have a huge selection of spices and I was happy to find several varieties of cardamom. The proprietress let me snap away pictures at will in the store and seemed to be amused by my desire to do so. I have to go back, I completely forgot rosewater to try my hand at macarons ala Pierre Hermes.

Finally, a cooler day arrived and I was eagerly anticipating my baking. I gathered up my ingredients and three teenagers (my niece Arielle, my nephew Jesse and their friend Debbie who are out on summer break) and set off for last minute ingredients. We put off the dough for one more day and hung out a bit until they went off to the movies. The next day my brother Jesse dropped three sleepy teenagers off at my house and left whistling. I dubbed them Daring Baker Dude and Bakerettes and put them to work. Arielle grated orange rind, Debbie handed me flour and Jesse did a last minute store run for more flour. They all got to sniff the cardamom that I had found in cheaply at an Indian store in Los Feliz and I got to give a little impromptu class on spices, dough, yeast proofing and other fun tidbits. I found I really like teaching teenagers to bake! It helps that they were into it, interested and eager to learn. (If my brother is reading this, it does not mean your kids can hang at my house all summer long).

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Dec

17

The Tamalada: Part 3 – Sweet Perfection

desserts / parties  Posted by / 1 comments
Figs, raspberry masa and some walnuts. Yum!

2215089419 913613eab4 b The Tamalada: Part 3 Sweet Perfection
Figs, raspberry masa and some walnuts. Yum!

When I was growing up, I loved tamale season and my favorites were the meat filled ones. I hated, absolutely loathed the sweet ones. Everyone in my family, especially my grandfather, loved the sweet ones but something about them just gave me the icks. Maybe it was the peanuts, maybe it was the peanut butter in the masa, maybe it was the fact that the taste of corn fought with the raisins, I don’t know but I never liked them.

As an adult, I thought I’d give the sweet tamales another try. I still had the icks but was determined to find a sweet tamale that I liked. My grandmother had once made some incredible strawberry tamales that I liked and so, over the years I’ve been experimenting with berries and various fillings on my quest for the perfect sweet tamale. I’ve made strawberry ones that were great, coconut ones, piña colada, almond, blackberry and apple cinnamon and they were all good tamales but nothing I couldn’t live without.

Yesterday, I invented the perfect sweet tamale. Raspberry flavored masa with a fig-walnut filling and a touch of raspberry syrup. Oh. My. God.

Want the recipe? I’d better write it down so I don’t forget it since I made it up on the fly.

I had been shopping for ingredients for my tamalada and had bought the things for pineapple tamales as well as for coconut tamales. I was in this little store in Glendale and spotted large trays of fresh raspberries on sale and right along side of them, boxes of fresh mission figs for 49 cents. Yowza! I love figs and I love raspberries so I grabbed all the boxes of figs and five trays of raspberries. Marissa asked, “What do you need those for?” and I said, “No idea but this is a great deal” and tossed them into the cart.

Yesterday, when I was preparing for the tamalada I started pulling out the stuff to make pineapple tamales when I saw the raspberries. Something clicked and I got into this state my kids used to call the Mom-recipe inventing robot mode. It’s weird really, almost a dreamlike trance where everything is on autopilot and images just pop into my head and somehow become a recipe. This is what I came up with.

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A stand mixer makes easy work of mixing the masa

Raspberry Tamales with Fig-Walnut Filling

3 lbs. raspberries, washed, hulled and patted dry
10 cups of prepared corn masa (can be ordered and bought ready made at Mexican bakeries or grocery stores)
4 lbs. fresh figs, washed
1 pound coarsely chopped walnuts
2 c. sugar for raspberries
1 tsp. allspice
3 tbsp. Chambord
2 cinnamon sticks
5 c. sugar for masa
2 more cups of sugar for syrup
Soaked corn husks

Wash raspberries and remove hulls. Gently pat them dry and put them into a heavy saucepan. Cover the raspberries just barely with cold water and add the two cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and let simmer for about a half hour. Remove cinnamon sticks and slowly stir in 2 cups of sugar. I used brown Mexican cane sugar, but any sugar will do.

Once the raspberries are cooked down and the sugar is dissolved, about another ten minutes, turn off the stove and let cool.

Scoop out the cooled raspberries with a slotted spoon and puree them in the blender, leaving the water in the pot.

Push the puree through a very fine sieve into a bowl. Set aside.

Put the corn masa into a big mixing bowl, or if you have a KitchenAid stand mixer, which is what I used (Marissa and Rachel got it for my birthday present), put as much of the masa as you can into the mixing bowl. Make sure to use the splash guard if you’re using the mixer. Turn on the mixer on medium speed and then start pouring the puree little by little into the bowl. Add the sugar and allspice and let it mix. I set the speed up to the maximum and let it do its thing for about 15 minutes. You want a light masa, so it’s going to take some work. If you’re beating this by hand, it’s going to take a while and you’ll need someone to spot you. Use the heavy-duty mixer.

While the masa is being mixed, turn the stove back on and heat up the remaining water from the raspberries. Add the two tablespoons of Chambord. Bring to a boil and start stirring in the remaining two cups of sugar. Lower the flame and let cook, stirring constantly until the consistency is thick and syrupy. It takes about five to ten minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain, using a fine sieve. If the small raspberry seeds bother you, double strain it through cheesecloth. I thought they added a little texture and dimension so didn’t bother. Set aside till you’re ready to assemble the tamales.

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Once the masa is thoroughly mixed, removed from the mixing bowl into a bigger bowl or large container. I used a disposable aluminum roasting pan. Set aside.

Roughly chop the fresh figs and walnuts. Using a spatula, turn the figs and walnuts into the masa. If the masa seems a little watery and not spreadable, add more masa with your spatula till it’s the right texture. You want something almost the consistency of thick peanut butter. It’s now ready to be spread on the corn husks.

Soak corn husks for about an hour in warm water and pat dry. Run your fingers along both sides to check texture. The smoother side is where you should be spreading the masa. Using the back of a spoon spread the masa from the bottom up in a fan pattern. Get about a quarter inch of masa on the husk. Using another spoon, drizzle a line of the raspberry syrup right down the middle. Fold the bottom of the husk up and wrap the tamale. (See Rachel Braver’s step-by-step photo instructions on how to wrap a tamale).

Once you’ve assembled and wrapped all your tamales, place them in a tamale steamer standing up, bottoms sides down. Depending on how many you fit in the tamale steamer, it could take anywhere from an hour to three for the tamales to be done. Make sure the steamer never runs out of water and make sure the tamales aren’t sitting in water. They have to be above it and cook only with the steam. Tamales are done when the masa is set and firm.

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I served these a little of the left over raspberry syrup on top and some homemade whipped cream. Garnish with a couple of fresh raspberries if you like. One of the comments I got was, “wow this is like a dense cake”. They are worth the effort and you can probably experiment to get this recipe smaller. I just tend to do things in huge batches.

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