Parsnips & figs

(No, not together)

A starter for 4, ready in 1 hour 30 mins.

I cook for a number of reasons. One is to show my friends and family I love them. It’s how I care for people. For a very special friend’s 30^th birthday I made a meal with 6 of her favourite foods (truffles, bourbon, feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes, figs, dark chocolate) in 4 courses. Two of the best dishes were a baked fig with feta dish (an amalgamation of a few different recipes), and a parsnip bruschetta recipe I nicked verbatim from BBC Good Food.

I chose this recipe as parsnips were still in season mid-March and are a vegetable my friend enjoys. Cooking the parsnips makes them sweet and combining it with the richness of the truffle and salty bite of the Parmesan makes for a delicious combination. They look like this:

Figs on the other hand are not in season until autumn, but I found plenty of them in March – really green ones in Portobello market, really big ones at the Arabian corner stores and small, deep purple ones at Waitrose. I used the last. The recipe is based on another BBC recipe.

To serve 4, you will need:

For the port and pomegranate reduction:

• 1 cup port
• ½ cup pomegranate molasses

Simmer the liquids until it has reduced to about a 1/3 (about 45 mins) and let it cool to room temperature. It should be thick and syrupy, sweet with a sour note.

For the pastry base:

• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 5 needles of rosemary chopped very fine
• pinch salt
• ¼ cup cold milk

Combine the flour, rosemary and salt in a bowl. Mix in slowly the oil and the milk. Kneed until combined. Roll out until about ½ centimetre. Cut 3-inch diameter circles with a cookie cutter. Place the circles on a baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees Celsius until golden – about 30 mins. Let cool.

The pastry gives the dish some bite and weight, otherwise it would all be very soft. (Texture is so important to food.) The base has a lovely subtle rosemary flavour and is incredibly crumbly.

For the stuffed figs:

• 12 small figs
• 200g feta cheese
• 3 tbsp port
• black pepper

Hollow out the figs with a table knife. Combine the pulp with the port and black pepper to taste in a small pan on a low heat. It will start simmering, keep it simmering until all the pulp is soft. Crumble in the feta and keep stirring until it has combined.

Put the mixture back into the figs and grill them under a high heat until the top of the fruit is soft – 5-10 mins.

To plate, put one drop of the port and pomegranate reduction in the middle of a dinner plate, and place a pastry circle on top of it – this stops it from slipping around. Put 3 figs on each pastry circle. Around the edge of the plate dribble the reduction and a few pomegranate seeds. Top this with a few pea shoots.

It is a very pretty dish with a lovely fruity, creamy flavour!

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