Monday, February 23, 2015

Wine Infused Figs

I'm back with decadent, guilt-free dessert - Red Wine Infused Dry Figs! I hope you will like it, I'd like to hear from you :)

Blog's Category: Dessert, Hors D'oeuvre, My Own Fast and Easy, Snacks, Vegetarian




Intro

Yes, I can :) Among great disaster my kitchen renovation caused, I managed to put together something simple, elegant and delicious. In my desperate attempts to minimize quantity of boxes around and use up all edible contents of cupboards, I come across of large bag of Calimyrna Dry Figs I bought a while ago at Costco. At the time I was frustrated - figs were not good to eat as is because they had really tough outer skin despite having wonderful, soft and creamy seedy flesh. So I decided that figs has to be simmered to soften up the skin. Leftovers of red merlot would be great as infusing liquid and also it would cut on natural ultra-sweetness figs have. Couple additional embellishments I had on hands - pecans and lemon zest - and recipe was born! Results are great and that's why, despite a critical lack of time I'm experiencing now, I have to share this recipe with you!


What is it?

Dry figs are simmered in red wine, then cooled down and served with a toasted pecans and spritz of Cool Whip.


Taste Description

Red wine breaks up tough skin of dry Calimyrna figs and transforms sugary sweetness of dry fig into wine-pinching, gentle and fruity one. Accompanying pecans and puffy whipped cream are perfect finishing touch to now-juicy, cooled up, creamy figs. Surprisingly, lemon zest is almost non-existing here, so you can totally omit it in this recipe. 


How to Serve/Store

Serve cold, with whipped cream and toasted nuts. It's a great do-it-ahead dessert - it will keep in a fridge for up to two weeks.
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Wine Infused Figs 




  • 20 large dry figs
  • 2 cups of red wine (I used merlot leftovers)
  • whipped cream
  • toasted pecan halves
  • zest of 1 lemon (optional)
- Bring figs and wine to a boil and then simmer on a lowest setting, with a lid ajar, for 40 minutes until wine will mostly evaporate. Take figs off heat, add lemon zest (if using), stir and let it cool. Transfer figs, along with a thickened wine sauce that accumulated on a bottom of a pan, into a glass container and keep it in a fridge.

- Serve cold, drizzled with a wine sauce from a bottom of your container, with a whipped cream and toasted pecans on top. Enjoy!



Notes

- If nobody watches, eat it right before going to bed, from a container, gently holding stem up, with a spritz of whipped cream and pecan sitting on a top of all this goodness ;)



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IN PICTURES

The skin of these figs was so tough and rubbery!






Simple wine magic and fig skin is transformed into the soft, barely chewy outer layer around that unbelievable figy-seedy flesh.

figs before and after..note how moist and plum they become after simmering in a wine..


remember my advice above, the best way to enjoy these figs?...