Inspiration: what is it? For me it is an ingredient I have had bumming around my pantry for a while. This week's inspired ingredient was dried fig.
This recipe just came to me while I was pondering how to use these whole, beautiful figs in a baked good. I wanted to use other flavours that would pair well with the figs, were reminiscent of the Mediterranean and were already on my shelf.
I made a simple pie crust, sweetened slightly, to wrap the figs in. Then I took some coconut butter, mixed it with brown sugar, lime juice and ground ginger, and spread it out on little rounds of dough. I topped the filling off with a single fig and wrapped them up.
I don't know if it was the dough itself or the size of my pockets, but the majority of them fell apart as soon as they hit the heat. The ratio in the filling between coconut butter and sugar was too low as well; I had oil dripping out of these and filling the pan.
The above was one of the successful ones. When I placed them on the sheet I had pictured them staying fully pinched shut, hiding the fig completely, but I quite liked the way the pastry just gently fell away, revealing the fig underneath.
These tasted much better the day after I made them. The filling lost some of the oiliness and the sugar became slightly chewy. I would really like to work with this recipe some more, especially perfecting the pie dough. There is at least one flavour element missing and I would like to find a way to add a little more color, even if it is as an embellishment.
-Bizzle
Another day, another scone recipe. This is the second time I have tried out this combination in scone form, and I hardly doubt it will be the last. The inspiration behind this scone lies in some random snack food The Weng and I picked up in Oxford one day. Ever since then this idea has been floating around my head as an interesting and different flavour combination.
Like I noted in my last post, it is easier to make true scone texture when you cube the butter beforehand. Here are my prepped butter cubes and mango pieces, sitting pretty in my new mise en place bowls.
I used dried sliced mango from Trader Joe's. I just snipped them up with my herb shears while I ate breakfast and voila! Prepped main ingredient. I haven't ever tried cooking with fresh mango, but I just don't think it would work as well. Too much liquid, perhaps too much acidity- if you want to try it however, let me know how it goes.
The other two star ingredients of this recipe: lime and cayenne. I don't know all the ins and outs of the 'chili' debate, but I use cayenne because it has a distinct heat without adding too much pungency.
I love colour! Anyways, I used a little bit less sugar than normal, mostly because the dried mango is cured with sugar and I wanted the other flavors to have a solid place in the overall taste. I think I could have used more zest (I used 1 lime's worth) or perhaps a drop or two of lime oil.
I used the drop-method this time because...well, because I felt like it. I just like the way haphazard food looks and feels in my hand. Plus, this is fun in a sneak- broken-bits-off sort of way.
Yum. Understated with a lingering bloom of cayenne. Eating them right out of the oven really highlights the cayenne, so if you're weary of the combo, make them anyway and just wait until they're cool to nosh.
-Bizzle
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