Lancashire Fig Pie
- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
- 6 ounces shortcrust pastry (i.e. made with 6 oz flour)
- 1⁄2 lb fig (fresh or dried)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
- 1 ounce currants
- 2 teaspoons treacle (or golden syrup)
directions
- Roll the pastry to 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and use it to line a deep 8 inch pie plate.
- Cut the stalks off the figs and place fruit in a shallow saucepan with enough water just to cover them, cook over a low heat until tender (fresh figs need 5-15 minutes cooking time, depending on their ripeness; dried figs should be first soaked for 12 hours with a squeeze of lemon juice before being stewed in their soaking liquid).
- Drain the figs and retain 1 ¼ cups of the liquid (top up with hot water if necessary); pour a little of the juice into a basin, add the cornstarch and mix until it resembles a thin smooth cream; gradually add the rest of the liquid, stirring well.
- When mixed return the juice to the saucepan and place over a moderate heat; stir until thickened, then cook for another 2 minutes; mix in the spice, currants and syrup and remove from heat.
- Arrange the figs over the pastry then pour the thickened fig liquid over them, making sure the currants are evenly distributed.
- Bake the pie on the middle shelf of the oven pre-heated to 400F / 200C / gas mark 6 for 30-35 minutes; serve hot or cold with cream or vanilla ice cream.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Mrs B
Worcester Park, Surrey
I live with my husband and 2 cats in Worcester Park; a quiet typical 1930s suburb (which no one has ever heard of!) about 12 miles South West of London.
I'm a fair weather gardener and as my husband is a vegetarian I grow a few easy vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers, mainly in containers. My husband loves growing flowers, the brighter the better, and we have a pretty garden as a result. Our cats, Araminta and Purrl, like it too!
I do a lot of cooking and try to keep our diet as healthy and varied as possible. Although I work full time, I use very little in the way of pre-prepared foods. This is partly because of the limited choice of vegetarian meals, which I think are overpriced anyway; but mainly because I like to know what goes in my food!
I love using the Internet for all the great ideas it gives me. Last year I participated in the Zaar World Tour (under my previous public name Caroline Blakey), which was great. Mr B and I tried lots of new foods and discovered new favourite meals. Researching recipes for the Tour was really interesting, however as I didn't have time to try them all, some were posted untested. I'm still working my way very slowly through them. To make matters worse I keep seeing other recipes I want to save and have also participated in Zaar world Tour II. So many recipes, so little time to make them!
<img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/kzbhansen/Banners/Animation3.gif">
My 'rules' for posting recipes are a) if I wouldn't make a particular recipe, I won't post it and b) if my husband wouldn't eat it, I won't post it. This means that all my recipes are vegetarian friendly.
As you will see from the number of recipes saved in my cookbooks, I particularly enjoy making jams and chutneys; I'd say it was one of my favourite hobbies. We always have a good supply of home preserves; my friends and work colleagues are well supplied too.
If we won the lottery (say £5m, as a good number) we'd like to give up work, move to the country and buy a place with a bit of land. In my dreams this would be a manor house or old vicarage, with a walled garden, an orchard where I could keep hens, a vegetable garden, etc, etc, etc! In my more realistic moments (the £1m win perhaps) I would like to run a B&B, perhaps offering Vegetarian taster weekends. Luckily it costs nothing to dream.......I’d also love more time to read, do embroidery, learn a language, see more of the countryside; and of course play on Zaar.