Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Rosemary chocolate fig spread...




















15th of October

The mornings have begun to be cooler, I suddenly find myself cold when I leave my room in the early morning to go outside- slippers are in order....
The days are still warm though...Indian summer, and the fig tree is slowly offering up its jewels- one at a time almost... a coy seductress....

After a few days of neglect, there was a basket worth of the soft, sun-warmed fruit interspersed among the bird-pecked offerings- the ripe insides torn open like carrion.

RECIPE:

4 cups quartered figs
1 cup organic sugar
1/2 bar dark unsweetened chocolate
1/2 lemon squeezed
1 tablespoon minced rosemary

I quartered the figs and boiled them with sugar- slowly the pink seeded interior dissolved, leaving the firmer outsides floating in a translucent dark purple soup. I let them cool and then pureed them in the food processor, which turned them into a pinkish brown puree dotted with the seeds.

I returned it to the heat and mixed in some chopped rosemary and some finely chopped dark chocolate.- Decadence.... almost like a healthy nutella- although nothing's as good as nutella....


I canned it in a water bath, but I don't think it can keep on the shelf because of the chocolate content.

It would also be good with lavender instead of the rosemary.......