COOK'S CORNER GET CREATIVE WITH FRESH FIGS.

Byline: Natalie Haughton Food Editor

Now that fresh figs are in season, we're responding to Sylvia Cohen's request (from awhile back) for fresh fig recipes with a sampling sent along by readers.

We're also including a recipe for clafouti from a new book, ``Fig Heaven,'' by Marie Simmons (William Morrow; $19.95). Fig lovers will rejoice, as the book is filled with 70 recipes for the enticingly sweet, silken-textured fruit, both fresh and dried. Recipes run the gamut, including such delicious-sounding creations as Cheese-Filled Fresh Figs, Roasted Figs With Gorgonzola and Prosciutto di Parma, Chicken Breasts Stuffed With Fresh Figs and Goat Cheese, Quick and Easy Fresh Fig and Strawberry Sorbet, and Fig and Ginger Jam.

It's chock full of a wealth of information on varieties, fig botany and cultivation, quick ideas for fresh and dried figs, sources for buying figs and how to cook with fig leaves. Get your hands on a copy and you'll have more than enough terrific ideas for using all those figs on your tree - or the figs your neighbors share.

To prepare figs, gently rinse in cool water, pat dry with a paper towel and trim off the stem (including the hard part). While some cooks consistently like to pull off and discard the skin, others only peel figs if the skin is thick and rough. Figure that a large fig, a natural source of sugar, has about 50 calories.

FRESH FIG CLAFOUTI

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream 

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 pound fresh figs, mixed sizes and colors, stems trimmed, halved lengthwise OR quartered, if large

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Generously butter a 10-inch pie plate or other round shallow baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Whisk milk, cream, eggs and vanilla in a large measuring cup or bowl with a pouring spout until blended. Sift flour, 1/4 cup sugar and salt into a separate large bowl. Gradually whisk milk mixture into flour mixture until fairly smooth. Pour batter through a strainer into prepared pie plate, pressing down on any lumps of flour in strainer to dissolve them.

Arrange figs, cut side up, on top of batter. Dot surface with pieces of butter. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven, 50 to 55 minutes, until edges are puffed and golden and clafouti is cooked in center. Transfer dish to a wire rack, and sprinkle top evenly with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar while it's still warm. Serve warm or at room temperature, spooned onto serving plates. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

From ``Fig Heaven: 70 Recipes for the World's Most Luscious Fruit,'' by Marie Simmons.

BREASTS OF CHICKEN WITH FRESH FIGS AND GIN

(Shared by Joni Schaper, Lancaster)

18 fresh figs

1 cup gin

6 chicken breasts, boned, skinned and split

1 teaspoon lemon juice

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup dry vermouth

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse figs. Pierce several times and soak in gin 2 to 3 hours. Rub chicken breasts with lemon juice. In an ovenproof dish with a lid, heat butter. Add breasts and cook 2 minutes, turning often.

Cover. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked through. Remove chicken from baking dish and keep warm. Add stock and vermouth to baking dish. Boil rapidly (on top of stove), stirring, until reduced to 1/2 cup. Add cream and salt and pepper to taste. Heat through. Pour sauce over chicken. Surround with drained figs. Serve hot. Makes 6 servings.

Adapted from ``Carnegie Treasures Cookbook.''

STUFFED FIGS

(Sent by Joni Shaper, Lancaster)

1/2 cup pine nuts

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese (reduced-fat is OK), softened

2 tablespoons grated orange peel

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

10 fresh figs, rinsed and stems removed

Spread pine nuts on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven 8 to 10 minutes, until nuts are lightly toasted (watch carefully). Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, cooled pine nuts, orange peel and pepper, mixing until smooth.

Slice each fig in half lengthwise. Press about a tablespoon of cream cheese mixture into cut side of each fig half. Makes 20 stuffed fig halves.

Recipe from Annabel Cohen (appeared in the Detroit Free Press).

STRAWBERRY FIG JAM

(Shared by Dorris Melton, Winnetka)

3 cups ripe mashed figs

3 cups sugar

2 packages strawberry-flavored gelatin (Jell-O)

Mash figs well. Add sugar and gelatin; mix well. Cook over very low heat until mixture starts to boil, stirring often to avoid burning. Boil 5 minutes. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.

Can you help?

If you have recipes that can help these readers, please send them along to us at the address below to share in a future column.

I'm looking for a chewy oatmeal cookie containing peanut butter but no raisins. Anyone?

- Mike Glahn, via e-mail

Does anyone have a recipe for a good mint sauce for rack of lamb?

- Dorothy Tuso, Rancho Vista

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no caption (book: ``Fig Heaven'')