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I have already told you about my soft spot for figs, a wonderful summer fruit. I created this recipe after we collected the last - and large - batch of ripe figs from the garden.

It was quite easy to combine them with fish, as in the previous recipe, but making a classic Italian dish – risotto – with figs was a completely different kind of challenge. I have already tried to make risotto with strawberries and pears, but never with figs.

Cooking risotto requires a great deal of patience and care and that's why I think figs are fruit that really go well with this method of cooking: it agrees with their properties and delicate flavour.  

The result was indeed excellent! Slightly caramelised figs added a delicate and slightly sour taste, along with a soft texture to the risotto. The Pecorino Romano cheese and bacon instead balanced the saltiness of the dish. Finally, parsley added the right touch of freshness to the whole recipe.

Try for yourself!

Ingredients, serve 6

Fresh white (or green) figs: 6 

Courgette flowers: 6

Arborio rice: 400g 

Vegetable stock: 1 litre 

Fresh yellow or white onion: 1 

Bacon: 100g

Dry white wine: 1dl (suggested: Vernaccia)

Grated Pecorino Romano cheese: 50g

Chopped parsley: 1 tablespoon

Butter: 1 knob

Extra virgin olive oil: as needed 

Salt: as needed 

Ground white pepper (as required)

Preparation

Finely chop the onion and fry it in hot oil in a large pan with the pancetta cut into small strips. When the mix looks golden, add the rice and toast in the pan for two to three minutes, then pour in the wine. As soon as the alcohol has evaporated, pour in the stock, little by little, and finish cooking the risotto. After about ten minutes, add the figs and courgette flowers, washed thoroughly and chopped, and cook for 7-8 minutes. Stir gently.

Before serving, add the chopped parsley, pepper, Pecorino Romano and finally cook until creamy with a knob of butter.

Decorate the rice with a nice fresh fig opened in the middle.

Orsa Pellion di Persano

Born in Piedmont, Orsa moved to Tuscany when she was 20. She graduated from the University of Siena with a research dissertation on women and the domestic rituals of a small village in Somalia.

She then won a grant and moved to the UK to attend a post-graduate course in “Nutrition and health anthropology”.

The topic of food, which, up until then, was closely associated with her interest in feminist issues and cultural anthropology, soon became crucial: not just for her academic training, but for her own “survival” too. Indeed, to earn something extra, an Italian friend invited her to cook lunches and banquets together with classic Italian menus. One evening, Pink Floyd's singer called to ask them to prepare a dinner for his birthday. Five stuffed guinea-fowls were cooked for the occasion and left all the guests speechless. 

Once she moved back to Italy, she got back in touch with the University of Siena and started her doctorate in “Anthropology and the history of nutrition”. She studied cookery books with traditional peasant food, interviewed housewives while they baked bread in large wood-fired ovens, women who fried rice fritters for Mardi Gras, discovered the secrets to making 'ribollita' and the art of cooking food over a flame.

After years and years of study, today Orsa runs the wonderful Agriturismo Borgo Personatina together with her cousin, Fiore Bocca. This is where she holds cooking classes for tourists and those travelling through the Chianti area.

Rather than classes, these are actual cultural events, moments devoted to flavour and knowledge that convey the extent and richness of cooking worlds.

Flavour is the origin of knowledge (the Italian word for knowledge is 'sapere' and in Latin 'saper' means something that 'has a flavour'). To get to know a culture, a country and its people the best thing you can do is to taste its food, savour its dishes and discover its tastes. As someone once said, cooking is a delicate and friendly art: it goes beyond language barriers, creates bonds between populations and warms the heart.

All this is at the core of Orsa's cooking classes. By being with her in the kitchen and plunging your hands in her mixes, you will discover the knowledge and flavour of a great cultural heritage.