My autumn fig dish for Neptune served on their beautiful Corinium platter.
Roasted on my Kadai, served with Greek yogurt, local runny honey and finished with smashed walnut brittle
Walnut Brittle:
- To begin toast your 8 oz of unpeeled walnuts lightly to release their natural oils in a pre-heated oven of 180 degrees.
- To begin your caramel put 8 oz of caster sugar into a medium saucepan and cover with just enough water.
- Place onto a high heat, you need to be careful that the sugar doesn’t burn keep an eye on your caramel until it turns a beautiful rich golden colour, the further you take the caramel the more bitter it becomes.
- Add your warm walnuts to the caramel remove from the heat, and stir into your walnuts.
- Line an oven tray with a piece of baking parchment, then tip onto the lined tray and allow to cool, until rock hard.
Grilled Figs:
- For this dish I cooked my figs over an open fire as this imparts a wonderful smokiness to the figs. But you can use a griddle pan on the stove on a medium heat, you don’t need to add anything, just allow them to cook low and slow in their own natural juices until they are jammy and warm.
- Allow to cool a little, then slice each fig in half to reveal the beautiful soft flesh.
Serve on your favourite Neptune plate, add yoghurt in three swipes, then place a fig at the end of each swipe, drizzle your honey over the dish and lastly add your shards of walnut brittle.
This dish is great for sharing in the garden with friends and family as we welcome fig season.
The Gourmet Gent 