Fig make you busy !

beef with pistachios and fig roll

 The season of figs has arrived, it’s official . In every house in the Allerona village every woman is busy making fig jam. A friend of mine who lives a couple of hills away from me,  has already brought me a precious jar of fig jam to use with the mature cheese. The general trend is to use figs for cakes or jams. Regarding  a more salty taste, a couple of times I have eaten  the traditional appetizer  “prosciutto ham and fig” , it never disappoints me. I remember when I lived in Rome one of the things I loved to do in the month  of September  was  to buy a piece of hot thick pizza base from the bakery  and ask them to open it. Straight from there I used to go to the market to buy a few figs and a few slices of prosciutto ham and fill up the pizza  … .. wonderful! I reminisce of Rome because I’ve never done the same thing since I live here in Umbria, the pizza here is different  and I  do not think it would work in the same way.  In this days, like I said, there are figs everywhere at the moment…. on the trees   below the trees, in lady’s big pans and in lots of jars …… so I thought and thought again and an idea came to me, a finger food made with a thin slither of beef, cut into small strips. Each strip spread with chopped pistachios , basil and lemon Verbena  AND A SLICE OF FIG. All cooked in red wine. It was delicious. After eating this finger food last night, I was speechless, I  just had a big smile on my face. I was really happy with my little creation.  Nick liked it too ,even if in his opinion it lacked a bit ‘of salt

Serves 4
 1 slice of beef (about 100 grams)
A handful of pistachios, basil, lemon Verbena
Evo Oil
Salt and pepper
½ cup corn flour
½ small cup red wine
1 clove garlic
2 ripe figs
wooden cocktail  sticks
How it works:
With meat mallet bruise a thin slither of beef. Cut long strips of 5 cm (about 10). In mixer whip the pistachios, basil, lemon Verbena, salt, pepper and evo oil . Spread the pistachio mixture over the strips of meat. Cut the figs into small slices and place a slice on each strip of meat and roll. Cover the rolls of meat  with flour on each side. Pierce each roll with the wooden stick to hold . In a pan fry the garlic with evo oil . When golden remove garlic and add wine. When the wine evaporates after  about 1 minute  add the rolls and cook over high heat for 3 minutes on all sides. Serve.