figs Archives - A Calculated Whisk

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Figs and Olives

May 14, 2016 By Becky 18 Comments

This pan-roasted chicken with figs and olives from The New Yiddish Kitchen is an easy and satisfying one-pan paleo meal.

I know, I know. We’re well into spring and I’m trying to get you to roast things. However, this pan-roasted chicken with figs and olives (and kale and potatoes, if you want!) is worth heating up the kitchen a bit. It’s delicious right when you make it because the perfectly crispy chicken skin goes so well with the sweet figs, tart olives, and silky pan juices, and it’s almost more delicious heated up the next day or the day after that, when the flavors of the sauce have deepened.

Plus, this post isn’t just about the recipe–it’s about my new favorite cookbook, The New Yiddish Kitchen: Gluten-Free and Paleo Kosher Recipes for the Holidays and Every Day. This gorgeous tome is written and photographed by Simone Miller of Zenbelly and Jennifer Robins of Predominantly Paleo. It has over 100 gluten-free, paleo, and kosher recipes that I think will appeal to everyone, whether you’re eager to get your hands on traditional Jewish holiday recipes made with real-food ingredients or just really miss bagels since going grain-free. The book includes recipes and complete menus for all the major Jewish holidays, including Sukkot, and an impressive array of sweet and savory baked goods, too. There are FIVE different bagel recipes, including one that’s free of eggs and nuts, plus bialys and bagel dogs. I basically can barely handle how much good stuff is in this book! If you’re not sold yet, let me tell you this: there’s also chocolate babka (see page 195). Also, I’m giving away a copy of the book to one of you–just leave a comment on this post to enter (details at the end of the post).

Spiced Beef and Sweet Potato Bowls with Crispy Eggs #30MinuteMondays

September 22, 2015 By Becky 10 Comments

Spiced beef and sweet potato bowls with crispy eggs, fresh figs, and goat cheese: a unique and satisfying grain-free breakfast or dinner in less than 30 minutes.

This may seem like a strange combination of foods, but don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it. This quick spiced beef with sweet potatoes is delicious all on its own, but adding a crispy egg, a few fresh figs, and a generous dollop of goat cheese kicks things up several levels.

The spiced beef and sweet potatoes is a fast, pared-down version of my bacon and sweet potato chili, with a few slightly more exotic spices added in. Microwaving the sweet potato chunks for a few minutes while the meat is browning saves times and ensures even cooking. Coriander, turmeric, cardamom, and allspice give the beef and sweet potatoes just the right amount of fragrance and spice.

In case you haven’t had the pleasure of indulging in a crispy egg, let me sell you on it. It has perfectly cooked whites, a runny yolk, and irresistible crunchy browned lacy bits all around the edges.

16 Paleo-Friendly Fig Recipes

September 2, 2015 By Becky 10 Comments

A roundup of 16 grain-free, paleo-friendly recipes using fresh figs,

from breakfasts and snacks to dinners and desserts.

Figs are in season now, and while they’re great eaten just as-is, I also love cooking with them. I’ve been especially excited about figs this year, even writing a poem about them in the style of Pablo Neruda (scroll down in this post to read my ode to figs). My fiancé and I just moved down to Tennessee and, since my campaign to get him to raise goats with me has been unsuccessful, I now have my heart set on planting a fig tree or two. Hopefully in a few years I’ll be able to make all these recipes with homegrown figs!

For now, store-bought figs will have to do. My local grocery store has plenty of black mission figs (pictured above in the top left of the collage), and I’ve also seen brown turkey and calimyrna figs. I wanted to round up all of the most delicious paleo-friendly fig recipes in one place in order to inspire us all to take full advantage while they’re still around. I scoured all my favorite blogs and websites to find mouth-watering ways to use figs at every meal of the day. The recipes below should work well with any kind of fresh fig, or even a mix of more than one variety!

All of the recipes linked to here are gluten free and grain free, but some do contain dairy. If the original recipe doesn’t list substitutions, I’ve noted ways to make the recipe dairy free. From breakfast bowls to pizza, salad to chocolate tarts, and smoothies to chutney, there’s something figgy here for everyone!

Crispy Chicken with Fig and Shallot Compote

June 19, 2015 By Becky 22 Comments

So, there may or may not be a poem at the end of this post, entitled “Ode to Figs” and written in the style of Pablo Neruda. (Have you read his poem “Ode to the Artichoke”? I’m not very into poetry but I’m very into artichokes–it’s one of the few poems I truly appreciate. Here it is in Spanish and English.) Figs are special, so I’m sharing a special but easy recipe that showcases them in all their glory. Plus, my ridiculous poem.

I got so excited when I discovered fresh figs at the market earlier this week. It seems that figs have a short season in early summer and a longer season in the fall, so if you can’t find them now, hopefully you’ll bookmark this post for later.

Balsamic Steak with Fig & Arugula Salad

August 27, 2014 By Becky Leave a Comment

Do you think beautiful food tastes better? I do.

Of course, every once in a while you come across a beautiful dish, take your first bite, and feel disappointed because it doesn’t taste nearly as good as it looks. In my experience, though, that doesn’t happen much.

More often, a food’s level of beauty and deliciousness are relatively close together, with the gorgeousness boosting the deliciousness up a notch or two (or perhaps vice versa, but I don’t really find that a food looks prettier once I’ve tried it and know that it’s tasty…we eat with our eyes first, after all). The food looks good, so it tastes even better. I think that’s how it goes with me and figs. Yes, they’re yummy, but most of all, their colors are just so pretty. When I take a bite of fig while looking at the freshly-sliced figs that are still on my plate, the beauty of those figs makes the one in my mouth taste even better.

Figs & Pancetta

August 18, 2013 By Becky 2 Comments

This simple appetizer is an amazing way to showcase some delicious figs. I’d been wanting to wrap figs in prosciutto for a while now, but accidentally got slices of pancetta instead. I think in my mind I’d filed them as being the same thing. I did a little research and it seems like pancetta is thicker and less pliable, and cured with more spices than prosciutto. You can use either one here–prosciutto would probably be easier to wrap around the figs, and you might not even need the toothpicks.