Mix a cup of chopped Asbach brandy-marinated black mission figs with a little fresh coarse homemade breadcrumbs (sautéed in real butter), minced shallots and a sprinkle of crushed fresh thyme. Add a dollop of my tomato butter. Remove from heat. Stir in just a drop of roasted garlic purée and a little mustard. Salt and fresh ground pepper. Refrigerate until you are ready to stuff thick centre cut pork chops.
Using a very sharp boning knife, slit each uncooked pork chop to make a deep pocket that will accept the stuffing. Careful not to cut all the way through.
Marinate the pork chops in a sealed glass dish; turn once. Use your favourite marinade, or use my bell pepper marinade.
Let the pork chops marinade for a couple of hours in the fridge. Never leave pork or poultry on the counter in hot humid weather.
Speaking of poultry: you can cut a slit pocket in a generous size bone-in skinless chicken breast, as an alternate use for this stuffing. Follow the same recipe procedure.
Lift out the pork chops using tong and pat dry. Insert a tablespoon of the cold stuffing into each slit.
Line a barbecue grill pan with foil, shiny side in, against the pan. Place two large double layers of foil on the counter, shiny side to shiny side, large enough so the pork chops can lay positioned on the foil not overlapping. Cover with another double layer of foil, shiny to shiny side, and fold the edges to make a package, to catch juices. Lay the chops on the foiled grill pan. Prick the foil in a few spots to let steam escape.
Preheat the barbecue to very hot. Turn it off and place the pork chop grill pan on the grates. Close the barbecue lid. When the juices run clear the chops are ready to eat. Timing will depend on the thickness and size of the chops. Likely 15 minutes should work. Remove the foil package of chops from the barbecue and let rest at least five minutes before serving, so juices redistribute.
Serve with favourite grilled potatoes papillote and grilled veggies. Bonus: Inhale the fragrant goodness treat. Mop up any juices with a grilled crostini smeared with a little roasted garlic puree.
This recipe is also wonderful if you use boned chicken breast.
It’s a “figgy” thing: Butterscotch Figgy Sauce
Melt a half pound of sweet butter in a stainless steel pot, on medium heat. Add two cups of golden brown sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon. Let the butter sugar mix come to a bubble. Stop. Be careful, because the mixture will turn rock hard. Turn off the heat immediately. Let stand for five minutes.
On low heat, stir in a half cup of Asbach brandy black mission fig thick marinating jus. Replace the brandy in the jar each time you use jus, and keep adding a supply of figs. You will find so many uses for them.
Stir into the pot a half cup of cold liquid whipping cream until fully incorporated. Add just a sprinkle of salt. Drop a quarter stick of real butter into the pot. The butter is not meant to incorporate completely; it’s just meant to make the sauce shiny. Just give a gentle stir. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature.
Store it in the fridge in a covered mason jar. Cover the jar first with two layers of wax paper. When ready to serve, gently reheat the sauce in a bain-marie, or just bring to room temperature. Whisk a little sauce in a dish. Turn into a mini gravy boat.
Use as a caramel sauce on homemade vanilla ice cream, served in a champagne flute, with a delicate long-handled fruit spoon. Top the glass with a halved fresh black mission fig or use the figgy butterscotch sauce as a drizzle over a cheesecake that you have topped with a couple of brandy marinated, but not macerated, black mission figs. They should be interspersed with seared fresh figs, cut in half and seared flesh side, once over only in very hot butter. Not cooked, just seared, or you can sear the flesh side with a portable flame. Sprinkle the seared fresh figs with coarse sugar. If there is any butter left in the skillet, use a rubber spatula and drain into the butterscotch jar.
OR: Scald a cup of cream in the leftover figgy butter drippings, let reduce a little, mash a couple of macerated figs from your jar into the cream, and serve the thickened cream over a small dish of brandy marinated figs, alongside a half-inch slice of fresh homemade pound cake served with a smear of crème Anglaise. Or during the Christmas holidays, serve the figgy cream alongside a generous slice of my Asbach Stollen.
Serve individual plain New York cheesecake slices on a lace doily on an oversize see-through glass plate, centred on a large charger, alongside a few fresh basil leaves, just picked, and maybe add a few dipped “ground cherries.” Drizzle the butterscotch figgy sauce over the cheesecake. Position a cake fork at an angle on the glass plate.
OR: Dip into the butterscotch figgy sauce, a few “ground cherries”, also known as Cape Gooseberries. Remove the paperlike husk that is similar to the covering on a tomatillo and pop one of these gooseberries into your mouth, for a fruit delicacy. Dip the berries in the sauce and drop on top of a serving of zabaglione, topped with a dollop of Chantilly cream, and drizzle on a little sauce. Probably like nothing you have enjoyed before.
AND another dessert idea: Make panna cotta with finely chopped fresh basil. Top with a drizzle of the butterscotch sauce, or even the figgy cream.
It’s a nice dessert whichever way you choose to use the figgy butterscotch sauce.
A savoury idea
Make my Lazy Sole recipe. Scroll down; it’s in the comments of another recipe.
Drizzle just a tiny bit of warm figgy butterscotch sauce over one end of the fish, just as you are ready to serve. Top the drizzle with a little fresh ground peppercorns. Add a handful of fresh basil leaves to the platter. The Lazy Sole will love you. So will your guests.
And another use for the figgy scalded cream
Drizzle a little over my fig stuffed centre cut pork chop, or on a fig stuffed chicken breast. Beyond “yum.”
“From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks”
The working title for Carolyne’s Gourmet Recipes cookbook is From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks. This kitchen-friendly doyenne has been honoured and referred to as the grande dame of executive real estate in her market area during her 35-year career. She taught gourmet cooking in the mid-70s and wrote a weekly newspaper cooking column, long before gourmet was popular as it is today. Her ebook, Gourmet Cooking – at Home with Carolyne is available here for $5.99 US. Email Carolyne. Scroll down to the comments at each recipe column. Carolyne often adds complimentary “From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen” additional recipes in the Recipes for Realtors Comments section at REM.
