Video:How to Make Stuffed Figs

Transcript:How to Make Stuffed Figs

Ingredients for Stuffed Figs

To make these stuffed figs, you will need:

• 15 oil-cured black olives, pitted
• 2 tsp capers
• 1 anchovy fillet
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 12 ripe Mission figs

Note About Making Stuffed Figs

This recipe calls for oil-cured black olives, which are a little different than your typical olive. Most olives are cured in brine, but oil-cured olives are dry-cured, then marinated in oil for several months, so they have a distinctive flavor and a dense, meaty texture. If you can't find oil-cured olives, you can substitute regular olives in this recipe.

Instructions for Making Stuffed Fids

To make the tapenade, place the olives, the capers, the anchovy fillet, and the thyme in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse it in several 5-second bursts, until everything is chopped into small pieces, but don't run it so long that the ingredients start to break down and become mushy. Alternately, you can chop everything very finely by hand.

Add the olive oil, then pulse the food processor a few more times. You want to make a sort of a loose paste, with distinct pieces of olive and capers, but moist enough to hold together on the spoon. To stuff the figs, cut a slit in the side of the figs with a sharp paring knife. Using a small spoon, insert just 1/2-teaspoon of the tapenade into the side of the fig. Don't try to overstuff them, because anything more will just leak out the sides.

After you've pressed the tapenade into the fig, gently squeeze the sides closed and clean up the edges and side of the fig. Repeat until all of the figs are stuff with olive tapenade. These stuffed figs don't keep very well, so they're best enjoyed the day they're made.