Fig Salad ~ Total Bliss and the Sexiest Salad Ever!

Hi food lovers!!

 

It has taken a while to start posting but here I am, finally! It was agony to decide what the first post had to be about, so I just decided that it had to be, my favourite meal!

 

With summer finally here, after Cape Town has managed to shake that relentless wet winter, (says I, while it is raining outside!!!) the temperatures are bound to soar and with the holidays just a few short blinks away, trust me, here at the tip of Africa, we want to avoid the hot kitchen like the plague.

 

 

 

 

This is hardly a recipe, more of just a few instructions. Very little, if any prep is involved, so relax to the max principles apply here.

 

I often cart all the ingredients to the stone table outside and assemble it in my bather, ready for a post lunch dip!

 

Some of you know this recipe well, but I have to re post all my recipes, so please forgive me, I will include new ones between all the oldies!

 

 

 

My gran would turn in her grave, if she knew I bought figs in a shop in a lil punnet! And she would be horrified at the price, trust me! I grew up with an enormous fig tree holding court just outside of the back door. So, in her honour, after several punnets of very expensive figs, some obviously imported, I went of to buy myself a fig tree!! But, of course I could not find a single spot in the garden so had to buy a pot!

 

The dude at the nursery warned about the pot cracking due to the aggressive root system and I launched into my explanation above! He just grinned when I told him we have at least five years to prepare for the catastrophe!

 

The birds love me and I have to resort to drastic measures to protect my lil crop of black gold!

 

 

Yeah, how about that view with fig salad, and Table Mountain just to the left. We are drinking Champagne cocktails and life is good!

 

 

 

Now lets put this salad together and give a grateful bow to Jamie Oliver, The Naked One for the original version!

 

 

Make sure the Wine is chilling before you start!

Prepare your tastebuds for sweet, salty and bliss...

 

 

 

Here's what you need:

 

Firstly, pour a glass of wine! I am pouring myself a glass of Springfield Wild Yeast Chardonnay... this is standard in our house with fig salad!

 

 

 

2 Figs per person ~ Those luscious plump Black Figs ~they look as if the are about to pop out their skins! (Two,unless you want a brawl on your hands)

Wild Rocket or your favourite tangy mix of Salad leaves Scattered over a platter

I sometimes use Asian Salad Mix

Parma Ham (can also use Black Forest Ham)

Milky Buffalo Mozzarella ~ or Baby Bocconini (Ex Woolworths)

 

 

 

Wash and dry your figs and handle with care (no peeling of the skins)

Snip of the little point at the top and cut a small cross in the top.Taking you thumb and forefinger, place them around the base of  fig and give a gentle squeeze until it pops open and "flowers"

 

 

 

 

Place the figs onto the salad leaves and weave the strips of parma ham through the figs

 

Rip some piece of mozzarella and scatter about artistically. The insides of those figs always make me think of the Italian painter Carpaccio, don't you think?

 

 

 

Now for the dressing

 

~Honey and Lemon Juice Dressing~

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Mix together well

 

Make sure you get some dressing in the middle of the figs and make extra to drizzle the leaves as well

 

I often do not even make the above dressing and merely drizzle over the following....

 

A bit of honey warmed

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar Crema Reduction

(I use Woolworths Crema con "Aceto Balsamico di Modena PGI"

But of course you can also use the flavoured ones

 

I serve the whole lot on a large platter with a crusty baguette or focaccia bread to mop up the juices on the platter! I love watching guests watch one another and when the first one dips the bread in the central platter the rest dive in!

 

 

 

I have served the fig salad as a starter or a light lunch.

 

 

 

Wines we like with our fig Salad:

 

Springfield's Wild Yeast Chardonnay ~ Available from Woolworths as well as good wine shops

Nitida's Sauvignon Blanc

JC Le Roux La Domaine Sparkling Wine

Jonkheer's Est La Vida Blanca

Woolworth's Zesty White (I keep that brand alive single handily, I am sure of it!)

 

 

 

 

The original post for this Salad on Tassels Twigs and Tastebuds can be found here

 

 

Now that you have chewed the last tidbit, please leave me a comment or suggestion below!

 

Bon Appetite

 

Veronica

 

xxx

 

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