This buttery, sweet and savoury Fig Polenta with parmesan, honey, and thyme is a delightful fall recipe for your breakfast, brunch, or whatever you want it to be.
7 Recipes in 2 Days
Hello everyone and happy Monday! I am exited today (Even though it’s Monday.) First, finally I am starting my office hours this week which is great – so much needed change to my daily routine. In fact, it is going to be a rotating schedule for my office for a while; one office week, one working from home week, and I don’t mind that at all.
My second reason for my excitement is that I am done with my summer recipes, and I am moving to fall stuff. After all, it’s official fall tomorrow – good timing, Ben! Indeed, I have some recipes that I call ‘transitional’ between summer and fall produce (apples, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes). I am talking about figs (As you can guess from this recipe) and wild mushrooms (it’s their season now!)
I must admit I have been cooking a lot lately. Over the last two weekends I tried lots of new recipes. It might have been some psychological thing in anticipation of coming back to the office. It is like trying to embrace as much as possible. I cannot explain this because my changing schedule doesn’t change the fact of me being able to enjoy cooking on my weekends. That being said, this past weekend I made and photographed 7 (Seven. SEVEN. S-E-V-E-N) new recipes with 4 recipes made on Sunday. It’s only the third part of September, and I’ve already got A LOT of autumn recipes. Plus, another 5 or so I made before.
Considering the fact, that the time for fall recipes is relatively short (As by the end of November or so I start posting Christmas ideas), that could be challenging. Also, considering another fact that I’ve got at least 5 ‘transitional’ recipes with figs and wild mushrooms, my real autumn with apples and pumpkins could easily start somewhere in January lol. #RecipesForSaleAnyone?
Fig Polenta
Jokes apart, this Fig Polenta is so dreamy and delicious. It is primarily savoury (parmesan and thyme) with some mild sweet notes thanks to figs and honey. If you are going to use precook (instant) polenta, as I did, it will be ready just in 10 minutes. yes, I do use instant polenta, please don’t judge me. While traditional polenta is great, most of the times I just don’t want to spend 40 minutes of cooking and stirring. Please go ahead and make real polenta, if you prefer.
Either way, I believe you will enjoy this Fig Polenta.
And if you love fresh figs, you can also try some other recipes: Ricotta Fig Lavender Crostini, Fig Avocado Smoked Salmon Salad, and Fig Brie Prosciutto Naan Pizza.
Cheers and see you soon [in fall!]
Fig Polenta
Notes
The classic ratio is 1 part polenta to 4 parts water. For soft, smooth, and thin polenta use 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup polenta. For thicker
one, use 1 and 1/2 (to 1 and 2/3)cups of water and 1/2 cup of polenta. You can always fix the texture by adding a little bit of more hot water or parmesan.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup quick (instant) polenta (~5 minutes cooking time)
- 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups water (See the notes)
- a pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 1-2 tbsp. honey
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme
- 4-6 fresh figs, halved or quartered
Instructions
- In a small pan combine the butter and honey until melted, over medium heat. Add the figs, salt, and thyme and cook for a couple of minutes until soft but still firm. If you wish, you can cook longer, until it has a jam-like consistency.
- In a meanwhile, bring a pot of the salted water to a boil. Add the polenta constantly stirring with a whisk and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or as recommended on the package.
- Off heat and stir in the parmesan. Let it stand for a minute and serve topped with the fig sauce.
- Enjoy!
Hi – I’m Ben, a blogger, recipe developer, and food photographer. I’m glad you’re here! I hope you will enjoy hundreds of delicious recipes and a pinch of havoc in the kitchen.
I love figs, Ben! And ’tis the season, for sure! I’ve never even considered combining them with mushrooms and polenta! But this dish looks like it has everything I love: sweet/salty, awesome texture and incredible flavors. Love it!
I was looking for fresh figs in the market today, but couldn’t find any! You’ve given me another reason to hunt some down!
Whoa – seven recipes in one weekend?! I salute your motivation, Ben! I’m loving this polenta!! I simply adore fresh figs, but it is VERY difficult to find them here. I’ll be on the lookout for sure though, because this dish looks deeeelish!!
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Wow, you certainly have been busy! I do like to work ahead myself, too – it makes life a bit more manageable I’ve found. I love this concept of polenta with figs – the only problem (I’ve mentioned this before) is that we can’t find fresh figs here to save my life! I can find dried ones, but not fresh. I guess I’ll just have to drool over this recipe on the computer instead. :-)
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