By Darren Robertson and Matt La Brooy
It's the time of the year to celebrate getting your hands on fresh figs. We use them in robust salads with citrus, grains and goat curd, or put them on bruschetta with ricotta, lemon and basil. You can dry jammy, over-ripe figs to fold through ice-cream or just eat them as they are.
We like putting together different flavours to create something special: here it's figs with blue cheese, fresh honeycomb and pecans, simple but effective.
A celebration: Figs with honeycomb and blue cheese.Credit: Christopher Pearce
The ham hock recipe is usually a breakfast or brunch dish, but is good for any time of the day. This slow-cooked meat can be turned into many meals with little effort. Keep the cooking liquid to use as stock, as it's full of flavour. Add some frozen peas, cook for a minute or two, then blend for pea and ham soup, or add cooked chickpeas, smoked paprika and greens for a heartier dish.
Outside fig season, thinly sliced apples or pears can be used in the salad, and macadamias and pecans can be replaced with almonds or hazelnuts. If there's no time to cook a hock, grill some smoky bacon instead and use that ... no excuses!
Smoked ham hock with poached eggs, figs and macadamias
1 smoked ham hock
1 onion, quartered
2 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
6 peppercorns
zest and juice of half a lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
4 slices sourdough bread
Olive oil for brushing 4 free-range eggs
4 figs, halved
2 handfuls watercress
1 small handful each of flat-leaf parsley, mint and basil, picked
2 tbsp macadamia nuts, toasted and chopped
salt and pepper
Place the ham hock in a large pot. Add the onion, bay leaves, garlic and enough water to cover the hock, about 2.5 litres. Bring to the boil, skim then slowly simmer for 1½ hours, until the meat begins to come away from the bone. Take off the heat and leave to cool. Once cool, pick the meat from the bone into a bowl, ready for action. In a bowl, whisk the lemon zest and juice, oil, vinegar and mustard and that's the dressing ready. Brush the sourdough with a little oil and chargrill both sides. Poach the eggs until just cooked in a little simmering water. Toss the figs, watercress, herbs and macadamias in a salad bowl. Pop the eggs on the toast, toss some of the hock through the salad, add the dressing, season with salt and pepper, then serve.
Makes 4
Figs, blue cheese, honeycomb and pecans
30g butter
4 slices fruit-and-nut loaf
100g blue cheese (Endeavour Blue, Nimbin Valley Dairy, Blue Cow or similar)
2 tbsp fresh honeycomb
2 tbsp pecan nuts, roasted
4 figs, halved
Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and fry the fruit loaf on both sides until golden. Remove from the pan, then cut each slice into four pieces. Arrange in a bowl with crumbled cheese, broken pecan nuts and honeycomb, and figs. If they are a little under-ripe, warm them through in the same non-stick pan with some honey.
Makes 4
TIP
If you haven't got fruit loaf or prefer a slightly healthier option, whole-wheat flatbread or crackers will do the trick.