Remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I bought some fantastically delicious peaches at Costco? Well, this week I saw a boxful of fabulous-looking, velvety-skinned figs that were so picture perfect that I had to buy them.
Mostly we ate them out of hand. I cut some up for my morning yogurt. I ate one or two garnished with crumbled blue cheese.
The rest? I poached them, reduced the sauce until it was nice and thick, set the fruit up in a pretty plate, added a dab of whipped cream and a sprinkle of chopped toasted almonds and VOILA! a fancy dessert.
So easy.
Here’s the recipe:
Poached Figs with Apricot and Cinnamon Sauce
1 cup apricot nectar
1 cup water
¼ cup honey
1 cinnamon stick, about 3-inches long
2 strips orange peel, each about 2-inches long
12 large fresh figs
1 cup whipped cream
finely chopped toasted almonds
Combine the apricot nectar, water, honey, cinnamon stick and orange peel in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the figs and simmer for about 8-10 minutes or until the figs are tender but not overly soft. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove the figs to a dish and let cool. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick and orange peel from the pan. Boil the liquid over high heat for about 5 minutes or until syrupy. Let cool. Spoon some of the cooled syrup onto 6 dessert plates. Cut the figs in half and place 4 halves on each of the plates. Spoon a dollop of whipped cream on top of each fig half. Scatter the nuts over the figs.
Makes 6 servings
