Black figs are one of my favourite fruits. I love them on their own, or in dishes like this paired with some salty cheese. Eating a fig will immediately transport me back to my grandparents’ garden in Cyprus. They have a big old fig tree and, when I was a young girl, there was nothing better than sitting underneath its hand-like leaves eating fruit after fruit. I still get excited about fig season each year, and I will always plan in some dishes for our menus at the restaurant; this recipe, in several iterations, has featured more than once. By no means do you need to go the full nine yards on this. If all you have time for is smashing a couple of figs over a piece of toast and then crumbling over some cheese, then do that. Whatever route you do go down, please do not eat figs out of season. They are the absolute worst, and worse still because they are just so magical when they are properly ripe.
Serves 4
red wine 100ml (full bodied)
dark brown sugar 40g
beetroot 1 small or ½ large, peeled and roughly chopped
vinegar 1½ tbsp (red, white, apple cider or moscatel)
black figs 6-8, perfectly ripe, cut into quarters
feta 50-70g (I like to use sheep’s milk feta)
chives 5, finely chopped
sea salt flakes
extra virgin olive oil
