Roasted Potatoes With Figs and Thyme Recipe (2024)

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.'

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...

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.

It pretty much just rehydrates the figs! It infuses the flavor of black tea into the figs. This turned out wonderful!

This attracted compliments as part of a nicer dinner party -- the fig and tea combination is absolutely lovely! Notes:For the black tea, a strong English/Scottish breakfast works well -- we were glad we didn't use a Darjeeling.Potatoes require about a half sheet pan (13" x 18") to allow enough space for proper roasting. Roast time was *closer* to 40 minutes, but we wanted some golden-brown spots.We used roughly a 50/50 mix of Turkish and Black Mission figs (good result).

Such a simple, easy recipe that's jam packed with flavours. Only dried Kalamata figs were available when I made these, but my dinner guests raved that it was such a great flavour combination. I accidentally forgot the thyme, but had these roasting around Mark Bittman's Apple-Stuffed Pork Loin with Moroccan Spices and the flavour combination worked flawlessly. A great recipe that easily impresses guests.

Peel garlic cloves before roasting

Hi. The "peeling" is simply poking with your fork and yummy garlic "puree" comes out. It cooks in a certain delicious self-steaming way. Try it.

Loved the sweetness of the figs against the buttery potatoes. Nice for Thanksgiving or other homey holiday.

This dish is divine. This is more work, but even better: Reserve the tea marinade; hold the garlic and after pan is in broiler, separate cloves, remove skins, toss in olive oil, and add to the pan for last 15-20 min. of roasting, to avoid burning them; add thyme when dish seems to need only 5 min. more of cooking, toss in the pan; and, although not nearly as beautiful, serve the dish as a potato/fig/garlic/thyme mash, mixed with the marinade, which is infused with a strong fig flavor.

We didn’t plan ahead, so didn’t have time to steep the figs for hours. We used white turkish figs, rather than black mission figs. To save time on steeping the figs, we cut them in half lengthwise and steeped them for probably less than an hour. It worked great! The figs were a more manageable size this way, too.

My fig tree is prolific. Can I make this with fresh figs? Maybe leave out the soaking step?

I’m thinking prunes rather than figs. There are tough dried figs and softer ones out there. The former have leathery skins and are better for snacking. I realize this strays from the recipe, but soaking prunes in sherry also works.

This recipe received rave reviews at a dinner party this evening. We had 8 people so we made 1 1/2 times the recipe but really the original would have been fine. Everyone loved the figs which made the dish memorable and gave the potatoes a unique flavor signature. I did scoop out the garlic and didn’t serve it because of the skins. Next time I think I will take another reviewers suggestion and just remove the skins before cooking so the garlic can be served with the dish. Overall it was great!

Figs were the star of this show. We only had 6 garlic cloves so added some quartered shallots. Husband gave it a 3, I say 4. Worked very well with the leek/garlic confit NYT recipe with the leek cream. Think we'll make the figs again... maybe with the potatoes, but husband wants to try the figs with some whipped cream for dessert first!

I’d like to reiterate Sarah L’s question above. I haven’t see an answer. To halve or to halve not? Recipe says nothing about halving potatoes but photo clearly shows the fingerlings halved. Are the rest of you roasting the fingerlings whole?

Made this tonight - it was a big hit. The flavor of lapsang souchong tea in the figs is lovely - subtle, smoky, and enchanting. I saved the liquid afterwards for stock - it has the tea flavor and a sweetness from the figs. I say leave the skin on the garlic cloves - it turns the garlic into a delicious paste. I would love to have more of the lapsang souchong flavor - would the potatoes take on that flavor if they were soaked in the tea for a short time before roasting?

I used dates and Earl Gray tea; 40 minutes was just fine. Also, I served this with Lamb Chops from this site, will post separately. It was a lovely fall dinner without too much time in the kitchen after guests arrived.

Followed instructions, turned out great. Remember to cut larger potatoes in half. Simply adding figs made it feel like a special autumn dish. My thyme lost color during the roasting process, next time I might add some chives or extra fresh thyme for color. Also, instead of 6 hours of tea soaking time for figs, I will probably soak them overnight. The fig tea water afterwards from soaking also tastes great, I added it to some chocolate pudding I was making to add some complexity to my dessert

This dish was not very special, however if you used fresh figs and added them a bit later in the baking it would’ve been more sumptuous instead the figs were hard and tasteless

I made this for a dinner party and was disappointed. Potato's were hard and the figs flavorless and I am above average cook. It was pretty though...

Do you halve the potatoes? Recipe doesn’t say so, but photo shows them halved. Thank you!

The figs soaked in tea were absolutely amazing, and I'll use them again with pork or roast chicken or in a dessert. However, I wasn't wowed by the combo of the figs and the potatoes. Together they were just a little strange (which is weird - I love dried fruit with potatoes usually), and I felt like something was missing (like maybe a meat). I used earl grey - maybe I'll try a less assertive black tea in the future? Also - the soaking liquid for the figs - I could drink it from a mug! So good!

My figs got a bit dry. Cooked too long, maybe? No worries, though. I finished on the stove w some red wine to deglaze some of the yummy bits, and to add a bit more moistness back in.

Has anyone made this with fresh figs. Other than omitting the tea soak, would you recommend any other changes?