1 cup (145 g) raw cashews
1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil, plus additional oil for brushing
½ yellow onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon yellow/light miso
1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice
1 tablespoon (15 ml) water
¼ cup (25 g) raw walnuts
1 tablespoon (12 g) nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon (2 g) rosemary, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
12 Black Mission figs or other figs of your choice, stemmed
Agave nectar, for drizzling
Rosemary sprigs, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Soak the cashews overnight in just enough water to completely cover them. The next day, drain and rinse the cashews. Set aside.

In a medium sauté pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the onion until translucent and tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Place the soaked cashews, sautéed onion, miso, lemon juice, and water in a blender and process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl.

In a food processor, pulse the walnuts until coarsely chopped. Stir the chopped walnuts, nutritional yeast, and minced rosemary into the cashew mixture. Taste and season with salt and pepper. At this point, you may store the cream in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or continue on to stuff and roast the figs.

When ready to prepare and serve the stuffed figs, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C, or gas mark 7). Lightly oil a glass roasting pan.

Set each fig upright on the cutting board and working from the top down, carefully cut crosswise into the top of each fig, as if you were quartering it, but making sure not to cut all the way through. You don’t want to cut them all the way to separate them; you want them to remain intact but open enough to pipe in the creamy filling.

You may either spoon 1 tablespoon (15 g) of the cashew cream into each cavity or transfer the cashew cream to a piping bag and pipe 1 tablespoon (15 g) of the cream into the cavity of each fig.

Transfer the filled figs to the prepared roasting pan, brush or lightly spray the figs with a little oil, and roast for about 12 minutes or until the figs are soft.

Drizzle on some agave nectar just before serving and garnish the serving platter with rosemary sprigs.

Yield: 12 servings

Per Serving: 109 Calories; 6g Fat (46.4% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 63mg Sodium