I once had a plate of wonderful figs. They were deep purple, with juicy pink insides and perfect sweetness and figginess. Very many times I have had figs that ranged from indifferent downwards. They look so pretty in the shop: purple and plump. But it’s very rare (at least in England) to find much flavour.Figs-1

So what do you do when the memory of that long ago figgy perfection was called forth at the sight of this season’s supermarket offering, and you find yourself at home with a bowl of tasteless but beautiful fruit?

If the figs are half decent, then you could try eating them with a plate of prosciutto, so that the emphasis is on the ham and the pairing of flavours not just the fig. Figs are good with soft, creamy cheese, too, and if necessary you can add a little light floral or herbal honey to compensate for the lack of sweetness in the fruit, though you risk drowning out their flavour altogether. Walnuts and manchego cheese could be good to, but the truth is that these classical pairings really work best when the figs have enough flavour to  match the foods they’re paired with.

With the quality of fig most of us have access to, drastic measures are called for. Deborah Madison is very clever with flavours: she pairs figs with caramelised sugar, orange flower water and cream. It won’t create fig flavour when you didn’t have any to start with, but your lucky guests will probably clean their plates very happily anyway.

Pour some sugar onto a plate. Cut your figs in half, and dip the cut side in the sugar, then put the figs, cut side down, in a hot cast iron frying pan (if you don’t have one of these, you need one). Let the sugar melt and sizzle for a minute or two, then turn the figs over for a minute.  Remove them from the pan to your serving dish, turn off the heat, pour some double cream into the pan, and stir it to dissolve the sugar. Add a teaspoon or two of orange flower water, pour the sauce over the figs and serve.

If you want something even simpler, just cut the figs in half, sprinkle the cut side with sugar and put them under the grill until the sugar melts and they start to brown. These would go well with cream, mascarpone, ice cream …

Sadly, they still won’t taste like the perfect figs you remember from long ago. Maybe next time.