4 Fig Recipes to Make the Most of the Delicious Season

It’s fig season, baby! These delicious fruits are in peak season in Australia from February to April. And buying fruit and vegetables when they’re in season also means they’re at their cheapest. Now, we’re helping you make the most of them with these delicious fig recipes.

The team at ALDI has shared these recipes with us, so let’s get cooking!

Fruit Galettes Recipe

What you’ll need:

• 8 sheets of Elmsbury puff pastry, thawed
• ¼ cup Merryfield caster sugar
• 1 tsp Stonemill ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp Stonemill ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp Stonemill ground ginger
• 1 cup White Mill almond meal
• ¼ cup Manhattan spreadable cream cheese
• 6 fresh figs, sliced
• 4 pears, sliced thinly
• 4 sprigs of rosemary
• 2 Lodge Farms free range eggs, beaten
• ½ cup Merryfield raw sugar
• Bramwells honey, to drizzle on 2 galettes
• ¼ cup Forresters walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan-forced) and line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
2. Using a small side plate as a stencil, cut a single circle out of each pastry sheet. They should be approximately 20cm in diameter.
3. Mix the caster sugar and ground spices together in a bowl and set aside.
4. Leaving a 4cm border, spread a little cream cheese in the centre of 4 of the pieces of pastry. You want the cream cheese to be about 1cm thick.
5. Top evenly with sliced figs and rosemary. Fold the edges inwards to form a ‘galette’ shape.
6. Leaving the same size border, sprinkle the almond meal in the centre of the remaining 4 pieces of pastry. Top evenly with the sliced pear and sprinkle each with approximately half a teaspoon of the sugar mix. Fold the edges inwards to form a ‘galette’ shape.
7. Using a pastry brush, brush the pastry with the beaten egg and sprinkle each galette with a little of the raw sugar.
8. Place 2 galettes on each baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and bake the second batch.
9. To serve, drizzle the pear galettes with honey and sprinkle with crushed walnuts.

Roast Pork with Figs and Pears Recipe

What you’ll need:

• 1 Ironbark boneless pork leg (approximately 2.5kg)
• Remano Olive oil
• Salt
• 3 brown onions, cut into quarters
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 pears, cut into quarters
• 7 figs, carefully sliced into halves

Directions:

1. Remove the pork from wrapper and pat dry using paper towel. Score lines across skin and rub with 1½ teaspoons of salt. Place in the fridge, uncovered, for a minimum of 12 hours (or overnight).
2. Remove pork from fridge 30 minutes prior to cooking and pat dry with paper towel. Preheat oven to 230°C (or 210°C fan-forced).
3. Rub skin with olive oil and rub generously with salt.
4. Line a baking dish with greaseproof paper and bake pork for 30-40 minutes, until skin is well crackled. Reduce oven temperature to 165°C (or 145°C fan-forced) and cook for approximately 1 hour. Turn roasting dish in oven and bake for a further 15 minutes.
5. Add onions, pears, figs and garlic to a large bowl, drizzle generously with olive oil. Mix using your hands to unsure ingredients are evenly coated. Scatter them around the pork and bake for a further 30 minutes, or until internal core temperature reaches 75°C or until juices run clear when skewered in the centre.
6. When the pork has reached temperature, remove from oven and let the pork rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Recipe tip: The total cooking time should be 35 minutes per kilo of pork.

Chocolate Avocado Mousse Tart with Figs Recipe

What you’ll need:

For the tart base:

• 2½ cups Oh So Natural almond meal
• ⅓ cup Oh So Natural cacao powder
• ¼ cup Brookdale maple syrup
• 2 Lodge Farms free range eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp White Mill vanilla extract
• Large pinch of salt

For the tart filling:

• 3 ripe avocados, flesh roughly chopped
• 200g Moser Roth 70% dark chocolate, melted and cooled
• ½ cup Asia Specialities coconut cream
• ⅓ cup Brookdale maple syrup
• ¼ cup Oh So Natura cacao powder
• 1½ tsp Stonemill ground cinnamon
• 4 fresh ripe figs
• Large pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan-forced). Place the tart base ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir until well combined. It will be more of a thick, nutty paste rather than a pastry.
2. Using slightly wet hands, gently press the mixture into the base and sides of a 35cm x 12cm x 3cm fluted tart tin with a removable base. Make sure the base and sides an covered with an even thickness.
3. Place on a baking tray or oven sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
4. Make the filling by placing all ingredients, except fresh figs, into a food processor and process until thick and smooth.
5. Pour into the cooled tart base and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours or up to overnight, to allow it to chill and set.
6. When ready to serve, slice the figs and place on top of the set filling. Cut and serve.

Recipe tip: Cut the tart into portions using a long, hot knife to get the smoothest possible edge. Get the knife hot by placing in hot water and drying with a tea towel before making each cut.

You can substitute the fresh figs with fresh berries. Try raspberries, blackberries or sliced strawberries — whatever is in season.

Sweet and Salty Fig Toast with Pistachios

What you’ll need:

• 2 tbsp Westacre cottage cheese
• 2 slices home-made seed bread (or bread of your choice)
• 2 whole figs, washed and sliced
• 1 tsp Bramwells honey
• ½ tsp Remano olive oil
• 1 tsp Oh So Natural pistachios, shelled and chopped
• Sea salt, to season

Directions:

1. Spread the seed bread slices with 1 tablespoon of the cottage cheese each. Top with 3-4 slices of fresh figs.
2. Drizzle with the honey and olive oil and sprinkle with the pistachios and a pinch of sea salt.

You can replace the cottage cheese with cream cheese or ricotta cheese, if you like.

And there you have it, plenty of figs to go round. If you’re looking for something to wash it all down with, we have these Autumn cocktail recipes.