This week, I found myself in possession of a pound and a half of fresh figs. Not sure really how that happened, as figs are expensive and while you can find them a lot of places, certainly less common than say, an apple. Anyway, I absolutely love figs, but there is no chance that I could have eaten all of them (and enjoyed them) in one go, so I decided to make this lovely jam with about 2/3 of the lot. It’s a sweet jam, of course, with notes of honey, thyme and orange, but it pairs really nicely with savory — would go great with pork, and as shown with this cheese (it’s manchego) or even charcuterie. Or mix it into oatmeal or yogurt, or yes, even toast. It’s surprisingly versatile and yummy to boot. Also, it is very easy to make.
Appetizers/Starters
Things to do with Ramps, Part 4: Make hummus. Yes, still stuck on my ramps (ransoms, Bärlauch) kick and here is a quick and simple recipe that pulls out some of the suble garlicy flavor of the ramps. The grilled lemons add both acidity and sweetness. Comes together in 2-30 minutes and is a great addition to the usual pia chips or veggies. Note: I grilled the whole ramps but then only used the bulbs in the hummus, eating the greens on the side. You can use the whole ramps (bulbs and greens) in the hummus, but when I made it like that the first time, I thought that the greens actually made the hummus too green.
The other day, I made this Ramp Chimichurri which is out of this world, and I mentioned that you can use it on a bunch of things besides just steak. Here is one of those things. The chimichurri moved this from “hey, I have a bunch of random ingredients that I need to use up before they go off” to “wow, this is one heck of a snack in just under 30 minutes of work (and would be much less except that you should salt the eggplant for a bit, lest they get soggy). Cheeky little snack in the middle of my Thursday.
Spring Baguette: Fresh Pea Pesto, Baby Greens + Delicately Boiled Eggs
Another Spring-like endeavor! And I think that Pea Pesto might be my favorite new type of pesto. It is light and refreshing and can be used cold as a spread as in this application, or used on pasta in a warm dish. This open-faced sandwich can be dressed up with the addition of cherry tomatoes too. Yum!