I finished the bag of figs I had last week making those lovely Figgy Discs, but on a casual walk by of the Mission fig I have in my backyard I noticed some ripe fruit on the lower branches. I remembered a recipe for a Fig-Pie Thyme in James McNair’s Pie Cookbook.
It’s a pretty straightforward fruit pie except for the addition of what one usually things of as a savory herb. You quarter the figs, add sugar to taste, enough flour to bind, a squeeze of lemon and fresh chopped thyme. I thought it would be super sweet and jammy, instead it was strange. A KCRW colleague said, it seems like it should be savory and right at that moment I knew what it was missing. It was a little flat for me, but a bit of feta or manouri cheese would give it the same contrast of flavors that you get in a tropical guava paste-cheese pastry. I’m definitely trying that out next time. But really like the addition of the coarse sugar on the crust. Pretty and sparkly.