This Little Figgy Stayed Home

As I discovered the week that I moved into the house, my little fig tree in the back yard is prolific. I've been picking fruit at least every other day for the past few weeks, and I still let the birds enjoy plenty of the ripening fruit that's out of my reach. 

I'm not very familiar with fig varieties, but if I had to guess, I'd say this tree might be Celeste. According to the LSU Ag Center, Celeste ripens at this time of year and has a purplish-bronze hue with light colored pulp. I could be wrong, but regardless, this is definitely its season!

I've gifted bowls to a few friends and neighbors, but here's how I've been handling the rest of the harvest. (Please forgive my less than professional food photos.) The first real dinner I cooked in my kitchen was this super easy, but delicious cheese ravioli dish adapted from a recipe I found on The Kitchn. With only a handful of ingredients, it came together quickly even when counter space was still hard to come by thanks to the unpacking mess. I added a few handfuls of greens to the original recipe because I can always use some extra veggies in my diet.

Next up, pork roast with figs and onions. This one was more of a creative assembly than a recipe, but it's hard to go wrong with pork and fruit. I crusted the pork loin in herbs de Provence and some salt and pepper. The figs, halved, and wedges of onion were tossed in a little olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Then I simply roasted everything until the pork reached the appropriate internal temperature of 145 degrees. Since I already had made the decision to heat up the kitchen with the oven, I also roasted some broccoli to accompany the pork and go into future meals for that week.

For a few social occasions at friends' houses, I've thrown together platters of fresh figs with prosciutto and cheese for snacking. The salty-sweet combination is great with a glass of crisp wine on a hot summer afternoon.

A simple fig cake accompanied me to a Fourth of July cookout. There are lots of variations of fresh fig cake out there, but this is the recipe I used for the first one mainly because I already had all the ingredients on hand. It calls for yogurt, so the result is a really moist cake that is not too sweet - perfect for snacking. It also goes well with a cup of coffee in the morning.

Fresh figs don't last very long before starting to spoil, so I needed an easy way to avoid wasting the surplus that was piling up in my refrigerator. I had my mom send me the old Ronco food dehydrator that has been collecting dust in a cabinet in her garage for years. (Remember these infomercials ?)  Mom never gets ride of anything, and for once that came in handy. The dehydrator is still working just fine. I washed, halved, and dried the figs fully, then packed them into jars to add to my overnight oats, granola, baked goods, condiments, and more later in the year when figs are no longer in season. I hate wasting good food, so this was a big win! 

I hope to be able to grow some additional fruits and veggies to the backyard in the future, but for now I'm thankful for the unexpected bounty that welcomed me to my new home and sparked some creativity in the kitchen.