Ep 51: Small Bites, Gettin’ Figgy With It

Written By Christine Van Bloem

Check out Small Bites, with episodes 15 minutes or less here to teach you what to do to make summer ingredients shine and how to make dinner…fast!

Let's dive into the excitement of fig season with a joyful celebration of fresh figs. From tips on selecting the perfect figs at the store to storing them properly, you'll learn how to make the most of these delicate fruits. Discover a variety of delicious ways to enjoy figs, including making fig jam, pairing them with cheese, creating a fig salad, and even making a fig pizza or flatbread. This episode is packed with creative ideas and culinary tips. Join the fig appreciation and share your culinary creations using fresh figs!

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  • Welcome to the Empty Nest Kitchen where we're finding fun in the kitchen. Now that the kids have flown the coop, I'm Christine Van Bloon, a cooking teacher with over 25 years of experience here to show you tips, tricks, and joy in your kitchen, all while trying something new. Let's get cooking. Today I feel like singing, getting figy with it because it is. Fig season, y'all. The time has come. I was at Trader Joe's yesterday and they had tons of gorgeous, fresh, plump, juicy figs. So whether you're a lover or a hater, it's time for figs baby. This is kind of my summer luxury, right? We got a fig tree a couple of years ago and the first year they don't produce fruit. The second year we got tons of fruit, but none of it ripened. It was very bizarre. And then this year, I don't even know what happened. It's kind of like it died, but now it's. A bush. I, I don't know, but figs, this is the time. Late summer is the time to look for these little packages of sweetness. They are so luscious and you probably, if you're like me, you grew up with the Fig Newton and I remember that was my grandpa, right? My grandpa loved the Fig Newton. He was all about that. And I didn't even realize that a fig was like an actual thing, if that makes sense. I thought it was just. You know, it just came in a cookie and it wasn't until really the past 15 years maybe that I was introduced to fresh figs. So when you are looking at figs, you gotta, it's kind of a buy the fig, eat the fig scenario, you can. Buy the fig and think that you're going to have it in a week, it's not gonna happen. They're pretty delicate and they go fast. So when we're getting them, we want them to be not super firm, but we don't want'em to be soft. A little bit is okay, but you wanna avoid any that are already shriveled. You want them to look plump and juicy and no shrive. On them because that means they're kind of past their date. I get a lot of black mission around here some different kinds you'll see, but when we get them, the thing to do, especially if you get them in a a pack, like the strawberries come in, you're gonna take those out. You're gonna take a quarter baking sheet, maybe an eighth if you've got that, and line it with paper towels and you're gonna put your figs in a single layer. On that and put'em in the fridge, eat within a day or two for the best flavor because they, again, fig season is fleeting and rinse them just before you eat them. This isn't a case where you can bring'em home from the store. Rinse'em, throw'em in the fridge and they're gonna be good. We rinse them right before we eat them because they bruise super, super easily. So how are you going to use your figs? Well, you could definitely make a fig jam. It's not too hard. You're gonna cut them up, take the stem off, come into quarters, add some sugar, cook it down. There you go. I think thyme works very nicely with it, but. You could throw some of that in there. I love to do a fresh fig jam, but really I'd love to put them with cheese. Fresh cheese, honey, do the drizzle. Figs are so naturally sweet that something with a little tartness balsamic. Could you be more classic Is really good. But if you're thinking cheese wise, this is where a slightly funkier cheese is gonna play really well. So like a blue cheese or of course I love goat cheese. These are gonna be really nice. You can quarter your flat, your figs, toss'em in a great salad. And I like to have, you know, balance. I talked to you. All the time about balance, but bitterness with some arugula, toast, some nuts. Pistachios are lovely. Think about all of the different things you're getting here, like bitterness, saltiness, sweetness from the fig. Maybe this is a time for balsamic drizzle. Look at that. You have a whole range of things happening in one little dish. You can also do the old. Little bit of ricotta, little bit of a drizzle, and I love to use that flaky Malden salt here too. Really, really lovely to have that contrast of the crunch of the salt with the soft flesh of the fig. Now one of my favorite things to do is really like a fig pizza, or maybe we'll call it a flatbread, where I'll take some pizza dough and you can buy it. You don't have to make it if you don't want, and you don't have to have a pizza oven to do this, but you'll take that, you'll spread it out. And then I love to use a nice olive oil on there. Then I'll do some prosciutto. And I'll typically wait until it comes out. I'll do goat cheese. Sometimes I'll even do a burrata on that. No tomato at all. That goes into the oven, comes out. Then I hit it with bits of the fresh fig. I love to do that drizzle either of honey or of balsamic or if you have a really great vinegar, if you have one of those really yummy vinegars you get from the specialty shop, give that a drizzle and hit. Is so good because the saltiness of that prosciutto just balances beautifully with the softness of that fig. So if you wanna pair it with something, let's, let's make it shine. And if you wanna go Sweet. Think about the honey, the vanilla, the cinnamon, uh, mascarpone cheese is lovely, right? Savory, we just talked about that. Blue cheese, balsamic rosemary is actually really lovely with a fig two prosciutto all day. And then you could. I mean, if you wanted to get a little funky, you could do dark chocolate. You could do maybe some citrus zest. I like orange, actually. I think that's kind of lovely. But the best thing to do with figs really is just cut them and enjoy them like. Pair'em up with something yummy and just enjoy'em. For the next couple of weeks. We're talking fresh figs. Remember, you can get dried anytime and you can always rehydrate those in boiling water, but it's never gonna be the same as a fresh fig. I also love to put them on a charcuterie board, right, A little charcuterie board and have some fresh figs on there. Holy cow. Not only do you look super fancy, but it pairs so well with just about everything that you're gonna put on there. So we're getting figy with it. And if you want something really cool, you can check out my, uh, just add sauce course because let me tell you. That there's so many little sauces on there that will go gorgeously with the figs. You can find it. There's a link in the show notes, and it's 17 bucks, that's all it is. 17 bucks. I'm already getting raves from people, I promise. So go check that out and get yourself some figs. I would love it if you would tag me. With any of your fig ventures that you've got going this week, show me how you're using them. Show me how, um, how you're working them into a meal. If you're working them into a meal. If you're just snacking, I can't wait to dig in myself. There it is, small bites. I will see you next week, and of course, as always, I'll see you in the kitchen.

Christine Van Bloem
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Ep 50: Small Bites, Summer Sauces: Big Flavors, No Stove Required