our free figs
One good thing about living in the countryside is that all our neighbors grow food.
Some just for a hobby, others to survive.
Our neighbors have a large garden and are never here.
They live in the village and just come up to have dinner parties in the garden
or to harvest their olives.
Yesterday after having some of the figs I made,
Andrea, came back into the house and said that he found a fig tree in the lower back part
of our neighbors yard, going down the hill in a hard to reach spot.
Today when I saw my neighbor Donatella in the town square, I asked if they ate their figs.
She said no, so I asked if I could take them.
YEAH!!!
More free food!
They are a different fig, so will be interesting to see how it turns out with Francesca’s recipe.
Someof them were dinner tonight with Prosciutto.
I prefer them with salami though.
I may have to do a 101 cooking with figs post!
I once had a fig risotto that I loved!
note: although full of flavor, these figs did not come out as luscious as the green figs for
Francesca’s Fig recipe.
Free figs! Oh, I would love that. In the midwest of USA, we would pay up tp $1 EACH! No way! I would pay to come to Italy for a free fig! Expensive trip, but better figs.
Travelberg
he best free figs I ever had were in Greece. There fig trees are not grown, they are infestant! Only the very old eat figs, the younger generations tend to consider them like a sort of pest or something unedible, maybe because they are so plentyful that they are now identified with an extreme poverty food (much like the mulberry fruits are in Italy). At least that’s the impression I got, but I don’t speak Greek.
The only time I have had figs offered it was by a very old pope in a remote island (and they were excellent!), for the rest I would steal them, but nobody cared since for the most part they were just let go ripe, fall and dry out on the Greek concrete roads.
Wow Figs from a Pope!!!
There are numerous abandoned fig trees here too , growing wild!
In California my friend harvests abandoned olive trees, and gets her olive oil!
One man’s poison!!!
He even spoke some Italian because as a young man he studied in Rome for a couple of years. Then he got married, was ordained and moved to this tiny, tiny, tiny island, where he claimed he could not understand how Greek monks and Italian priests could understand the dinamics of a family, since they could not marry. Quite of a guy ^__^
Figs are just wonderful! I love them so much!
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Judy – you inspired me to develop a recipe tiday. Fig Preserves with Balsamic Vinegar and Fresh Rosemary. It is looking tasty!
I adore figs & salami together, too!!!! As for the risotto, do you have any idea how it was made? Onion, wine & stock? The textures of creamy risotto & figs strike me as complementary but I am not sure what else should go into the pot to keep it from being unctuous. I’ve made risotto w green apples and the contrast in texture and tartness made the combination fantastic.
P.S. I just found an Italian recipe for risotto w figs and gorgonzola. The blogger cooks an onion & garlic clove in butter, adds the rice to sauté for less than a minute, then pours in a glass of dry white wine. While I am not a fan of boullion cubes, hers could be replaced w vegetable broth and water, though I imagine a little poultry stock wouldn’t hurt, especially if diluted. At the end, the gorgonzola goes in w a little more butter & some grana (or Parmesan).
This link is to her blog: [URL]http://fiordizucca.blogspot.com/2005/09/risotto-ai-fichi-e-gorgonzola.html[/URL]
I have been craving fresh figs and your photos make it worse! haha I’ll have to check out the farmer’s market this weekend.