Fig & Goats Cheese Salad

Now it's the season for figs, you can get these on offer at all the shops and my mum came to my house with 8 figs in tow. They're not in season for long so I wanted to eat them simply, even though it was tempting to make a batch of delicious fig jam. Given the hot weather outside, I went for an easy fig and goat's cheese salad for lunch today.

 
This recipe comes from the Ottolenghi cookbook I received earlier this year. Every time I passed this recipe in the book I say to myself that I must make it when figs are in season! So here it is! The book calls for young pecorino, but I didn't know where to get that. So I substituted it for a soft Abergavenny Goat's cheese from Abel and Cole and this worked just as well. You want a soft, salty full flavoured cheese. Don't use a cream cheese like ricotta or because it would just get lost in the honey. The recipe did say that the cheese can be substituted for parma ham as well.

The dressing is made from runny honey and olive oil which compliments the soft salty cheese and sweetens the figs even more. For the leaves, best to use a combination of fresh leaves like basil with peppery rocket. I used the leaves from my Riverford salad bag which contain peppery mizuna and young spinach.

This salad is perfect for the weekend, so make it now!

Ingredients
6 Figs, quartered
handful of Lettuce
2 tbsp runny Honey
3 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
100g Goat's Cheese

Recipe
Whisk the honey and olive oil with salt and pepper to combine thoroughly. Don't worry if the honey clumps a bit as that makes the salad all the more exciting to use the last piece of fig to mop up all the honey on the plate.

Break the cheese using your fingers into blobs, add the salad leaves and toss lightly. Drizzle with the honey/oil dressing and season with pepper. Serve. :)