Compote of Figs in Port

3 hours

Serves 4

This recipe is from Delia Smith's Christmas

Dessert figs that have become too dry to eat as they are can be excellent made into a compote.

This is superb served with ice cream, but failing that, try it with some Greek yoghurt.

The Delia Online Cookery School: Another festive recipe is Christmas Stollen which you can watch being made in our video. Just click here to play.

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Method

Use a potato peeler to pare off the coloured part only of the orange zest then, using a sharp knife, cut this into little shreds.

After that squeeze out the orange juice, then place the figs, orange juice and zest in a bowl. Add 10 fl oz (275 ml) water, stir everything around, and leave it on one side for 2 hours. Next pour the contents of the bowl into a saucepan, add the sugar and simmer very gently for 1 hour (without a lid): it should only just simmer, so have a look from time to time to make sure the liquid does not all evaporate.

At the end of the cooking time pour the whole lot into a serving bowl and, while it is still hot, stir in the port. Allow the figs to cool completely in this liquid, and chill before arranging them in a glass serving dish.