Roasted Potatoes With Figs and Thyme

Name: Roasted Potatoes With Figs and Thyme
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1/2 pound dried black mission figs or other dried figs; 1 1/2 cups brewed black tea, more if necessary; 2 pounds fingerling potatoes; 1 head garlic; 5 sprigs of thyme; 1/3 cup olive oil; Salt and black pepper to taste

By Kim Severson

Total Time: 40 minutes
Rating: 5(629)
Comments: Read comments

A fall walk through New York’s Greenmarket with Eleven Madison Park’s chef, Daniel Humm, brought the idea for this unusual dish. Hot black tea lends a deeper flavor to dried figs, which are scattered with potatoes on a pan with thyme and then roasted. The recipe calls for fingerling potatoes, but any waxy potato will do. (And for everything you need to know to make perfect potatoes, visit our potato guide.)

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

½pound dried black mission figs or other dried figs
1½cups brewed black tea, more if necessary
2pounds fingerling potatoes
1head garlic
5sprigs of thyme
⅓cup olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Place figs in a bowl, cover with hot black tea and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours or overnight, depending on initial softness of figs.
Step 2
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash potatoes well and trim any bad parts. Separate garlic head into individual cloves but do not remove outer skin.
Step 3
Drain figs. In a bowl, combine garlic, thyme, figs, potatoes and olive oil; toss. Place on roasting pan and bake until potatoes are tender enough to pierce with a fork, about 30 minutes. Remove and season immediately with salt and pepper. Serve. Diners may remove skin from garlic at the table and eat along with the potatoes, if they wish.

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Ratings

5 out of 5

629 user ratings

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Comments

Roni Jordan8 years ago

I've saved this to make in a few days because I adore dried figs and I have some fresh thyme to use up. But damned if I'm going to leave the papery skin on the garlic cloves - I'll roast them unskinned and not force my diners to peel them 'at table.'

LaurieG8 years ago

Great hit! Our guests marveled over the figs, in particular. It did take about twice the roasting time though, which is not unusual, I've found.

David Hays Buckley8 years ago

Hi. The "peeling" is simply poking with your fork and yummy garlic "puree" comes out. It cooks in a certain delicious self-steaming way. Try it.

Suzanne2 weeks ago

I removed the garlic skin. Hydrated the figs in Earl Grey tea. Saving this delicious “fig juice” for a salad or to drizzle on baked sweet potato. Excellent very festive holiday dish.

Pernilla Ahrnstedt3 weeks ago

After reading a lot of the comments here I slightly tweaked the recipe: I added the 1/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup chicken stock. I peeled the garlic because most likely no one would bother squeezing the cloves. After 20 minutes I poured 1/3 of the fig-tea juice and stirred around so everything was coated. They were in the oven for 40-45 min in total. It was amazing!!!!! Made more on Boxing Day for meat leftovers. I would salt and pepper the potatoes before I put the dish in not when I take it out, next time. I have frozen the left over fig-tea and plan on using it as a chicken/pork marinade with a few added chili flakes.

Emily Duchon1 year ago

I drizzled the final result with some balsamic glaze which I thought added an extra spark of flavor to an already tasteful dish.

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