honey + thyme figs w/ yoghurt + almonds

I thought I’d stop by quickly today to say hi and to share a lovely little fig dish I made while staying over at my mums house on the east coast. I’ve been missing this space more than I ever thought I would, could or should do and didn’t realise how much my rambling on here helps to keep me sane! So much has happened since we arrived home to New Zealand I don’t really know where to start. It’s all gone by in a blur and sadly we only have one more week left here, I haven’t even seen half of the people I wanted to see and still have many, many photos to take and food to cook…

The first week home I finally got to meet the lovely Vicki from Harper Collins NZ to go over some of the book stuff we haven’t been able to do via email. It was awesome to put a face to the name and she reminded me of why I love kiwi’s (New Zealanders) so much with her warm and welcoming personality and beautiful honesty. The following day I had my first public appearance at Wintec in Hamilton, where I did my chef training many moons ago. I even got to bust out my chef whites which haven’t seen the light of day for years and years. I gotta say I was super nervous about it as I’ve never been the most confident public speaker, but it went really well. I surprised even myself. 
During the talk I shared my story, talking about my training, my career as a chef, having kids and our food intolerance’s, starting this blog and my upcoming book. I also made chocolate cookies and almond milk that went down a treat, even after we managed to burn the first tray of cookies! Hehe. Thanks so much to Kat for being such a wonderful assistant during the demonstration and a special thank you to my dear friend Amy for all your hard work that you put into organising everything.  xx

After the busyness of the first week was over we all jumped in the car and went over to the east coast to stay with my mum and little sister. Having lived in the city for the past 2 years going over to Pukehina, a teeny tiny dot of a coastal town, was a lovely quiet treat. There’s just one road and two (maybe 3?) shops in Pukehina, with the beautiful untouched beach a few minutes walk across the road. My older sister, her partner and two kids came over also, which was loads of fun. 
Mums vege garden is awesome which meant loads of freshly picked beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes for dinner. It made me really miss living here as our parched vege garden in Perth is just a tad embarrassing at the moment. We also feasted on figs. Lots of figs. Mums next door neighbour has the most ginormous fig tree that hangs over the fence. Everyday we helped ourselves to bowlfuls of sweet, juicy figs. Mostly we just ate them straight up off the tree, but a couple of the nights we roasted some in the oven with a little butter and sugar until rich, slightly dried and intense in flavour. The last day we were there I wanted a quicker way to enjoy them cooked so I panfried them greek-style with honey and thyme. It was the perfect way to enjoy them first thing in the morning with a bowlful of homemade yoghurt.

I have so many photos and stories to share, hopefully I will get the chance to once we get back to Perth. But until then, I hope you’ve all been well. I still have two very special bloggers sharing their recipes on here over the coming weeks so do make them feel welcome won’t you 🙂 xx

honey + thyme figs w/ yoghurt + almonds
I used butter, because that’s what I had on hand at mums. Had I been at home I would have used ghee or olive oil.
Serves 4


8 ripe figs, halved
1 tablespoon ghee, butter or olive oil
a small handful of thyme sprigs
2 tablespoons honey
a good pinch fine sea salt
Natural yoghurt and roughly chopped toasted almonds, to serve

Heat ghee, butter or olive oil in a large heavy-based frying pan, add thyme sprigs, honey, salt and then cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring, until a thick sauce forms. Add figs to sauce, cut side down and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn over and cook for a further 2 minutes or until figs are tender. Serve figs over greek yoghurt, making sure you spoon over a little of the sauce too. Scatter with toasted almonds and eat immediately.