Fresh figs are here! yayyyy!!! A feast for your eyes and your taste buds, this fig salad with cheese and caramelised nuts is an absolute must-try in the season!
The softness of figs and cheese is complemented by the crispiness of the lettuce and the crunchiness of nuts in this beautiful salad. The flavors are further enhanced by the sweet and sour honey-vinegar salad dressing.
I love them. No. Actually, I adore them. Every time I cut open a fig, I am struck by their absolute beauty. And when I put in my mouth and take in their juicy sweetness, I am left speechless every time!
Ah, fig O’fig! I wish I was a poet and could write a small poem on them 🙂 They are so rightly called the “fruit of the Gods”!
The season for fresh figs is so short that it just doesn’t seem fair. We have them now and I know within a couple of weeks they will be gone. So I want to eat as many as I can in as many ways as I can! I love them just like that but this fig salad with crispy lettuce, soft cheese, and caramelized nuts is a celebration of summers and fresh figs. I am thinking to add them to overnight oats and also to my breakfast oatmeal smoothie. And this cheat’s fig and honey ice-cream is delicious too!
Tippy-tippy-top… Whose the sweetest of them all?
- Did you know? Figs have a 55% natural sugar content, making them the sweetest of all fruits. So go easy on that maple syrup in this recipe!
- Also, another interesting thing I learned the other day was that since figs retain their moisture in baking, pureed figs make a tasty and healthy substitution for oil or butter. I haven’t tried this yet, but soon I am going to try and replace half the butter with fig puree in my cakes.
If you like this recipe, please take a moment to rate it and/or leave your comments at the end of the blog. It will really encourage me to keep exploring, learning and improving.
Fresh figs and cheese salad with caramelized nuts
Ingredients (1cup = 240ml; 1tbsp = 15ml; 1tsp = 5ml)
- 6 fresh figs
- 10-12 almonds & walnuts
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 50 g cottage cheese , crumbled
- 3 cups iceberg lettuce
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tbsp grape vinegar (or use apple cider vinegar)
Instructions
- Wash the lettuce leaves in cold water. Loosely tear and put them in a bowl filled with ice.
- Preheat oven to 180ºC.
- Toss the nuts with maple syrup, sugar and salt until they are well coated. Put on a baking tray and roast for about 3 minutes. Remove and keep aside to cool.
- Trim and cut the figs into quarters.
- Divide the figs, crumbled cheese, lettuce leaves and nuts between four plates.
- In the same bowl that you used for tossing nuts, whisk together olive oil and vinegar. This will make sure all the remaining maple syrup goes into the dressing. Drizzle over the salad in each plate and serve.
Notes
- I use cottage cheese because it is the most easily available cheese in India. But instead of cottage cheese, a sharper cheese like parmesan will also go great with the salad.
- Same with nuts, you can also try pecans or hazelnuts.
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