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(598)
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

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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.

Ratings

5 out of 5

598 user ratings

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Comments

Roni Jordan7 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.'

LaurieG7 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.

Brkln.df7 years ago

Jerry's answer (thanks, Jerry) brings to mind variations--you could give the figs a bit of a smoky taste if you have something like lapsang souchong, or a different spin, depending on what tea you have and what your tastes are. I'll give this a try...

Emily Duchon11 months ago

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

Molly1 year ago

Delicious recipe received rave reviews by all. I was in a hurry so par-boiled potatoes in the microwave to shorten roasting time. Don't skip steeping the figs.

Maple1 year ago

I made this using English breakfast tea (black tea) to soak the figs overnight. They didn't look all that appetizing before they went into the oven but came out a beautiful brown. Next time I'd add more thyme, salt and pepper. I used peeled garlic cloves. Roasting took 50 minutes. It's really tasty in an unusual way.

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