Fresh Fig and Feta Salad With Toasted Walnuts

"It's fig time here in SW France, and I have been busy making up new fig recipes, as well as making jams, pickles, alcohol steeped figs and chutneys with all our harvest! This was thrown together one Sunday afternoon as a starter for a lazy Al Fresco Sunday lunch - and since then I have had requests for it nearly every day! If you are lucky enough to have a fig tree, try and garnish the individual plates with a couple of washed leaves - it really adds a certain panache to the appearance of the salad! I have made this with Chevre - Goat's Cheese as well as Feta, and it was just as delicious. Amounts given are for a starter for 6 people - and assuming that the figs are medium to large in size; please adjust the quantities if necessary. Toasting the walnuts beforehand is well worth the effort, and if you toast more than is needed, any excess can be stored in an airtight container."
 
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photo by Izy Hossack photo by Izy Hossack
photo by Izy Hossack
photo by Izy Hossack photo by Izy Hossack
photo by Izy Hossack photo by Izy Hossack
photo by Thorsten photo by Thorsten
photo by Thorsten photo by Thorsten
Ready In:
5mins
Ingredients:
9
Serves:
6
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ingredients

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directions

  • Toasted Walnuts:

  • In a large, heavy frying pan, over a high heat, toast the walnuts for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove and set aside to cool.
  • Vinaigrette:

  • Put the vinegar and a good pinch of salt and black pepper in a screw-top jar and shake until the salt has dissolved. Add the mustard and walnut oil, then shake again to emulsify – the emulsion will hold for ten minutes or so, but give it another jiggle just before you use it to dress the salad.
  • Salad:

  • Wipe the fresh figs gently, and cut them in half. Arrange them on a large platter, OR on individual plates - allowing 4 to 5 fresh figs per person, depending on the size.
  • Sprinkle 1 to 1 1/2 ozs of crumbled feta or goat's cheese per person, over the top of the fresh figs.
  • Scatter the chopped,toasted walnuts over the fig salad.
  • Just before serving, drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad, and garnish each plate with 1 - 2 fresh fig leaves if available.
  • Serve with crusty bread and butter.
  • Can also be served as a dessert/cheese course combined.

Questions & Replies

  1. Husband bought dried figs. Would it taste OK with dried as opposed to fresh figs?
     
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Reviews

  1. Lovely combination.
     
  2. I went in search of ripe, eating figs on the tree, but it's really too early in the season so paid a small fortune for a basket from the supermarket. Having said that, I'm glad I made the investment as this recipe is so good! The combination was outstanding and very sophisticated, so I'll definitely be making this a lot around August/September when we will have our own figs. DH and I drank a chilled Vin Santo, which was a great accompaniment.
     
  3. I have made this twice when I was lucky enough to get ripe figs, and it's wonderful. I like to serve it on a bed of young greens, though, and I also use balsamic vinegar instead of white wine vinegar. I think this recipe is forgiving enough that it can be played with and still be terrific. Today we had it with a warm baguette and some homemade red wine, for lunch. Yum!
     
  4. Hi F.T. great receipe you have here, I'm always on the look out for new fig receipes, as I have an enormous fig tree in my front yard. If the weather goes well I can harvest figs twice a year, in June, then again in the end of September. I'm lucky this year, for I'll have 2 harvest. I had some friends over and tried this recipe out on them. They went absolutey crazy over them, I served it with a nice white Port wine, just the perfect touch. Thanks so much for the lovely receipe, I will be making this often, even if its just for me. lol...lol...lol...
     
  5. It was made pretty fast and tasted so good. The fruityness of the figs goes so well together with feta and toasted walnuts. Great. Used very ripe figs and they were great in this salad. To emphasize the fruity notes I added very little lemon juice to the vinaigrette. Loved it. Thanks for sharing this delicious salad recipe.
     
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Tweaks

  1. I have made this twice when I was lucky enough to get ripe figs, and it's wonderful. I like to serve it on a bed of young greens, though, and I also use balsamic vinegar instead of white wine vinegar. I think this recipe is forgiving enough that it can be played with and still be terrific. Today we had it with a warm baguette and some homemade red wine, for lunch. Yum!
     

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<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA &amp; Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature &amp; Art History teacher &amp; lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband &amp; my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p> <p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p> <p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting&nbsp;in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p> <p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p> <p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting &amp; drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! I love all types of cuisine, but especially Traditional British - and NO it is NOT all bad!! I particularly love food associated with the changing seasons plus traditional feasts &amp; festivals, as well as Slow Cooking. I also enjoy French &amp; North African cuisine, come to think of it, there isn't much I don't like! <br /><br />My husband &amp; I run a Chambres D'Hotes, (Bed and Breakfast) called Auberge de la Fontaine here in beautiful South West France; we specialise in Gourmet Food &amp; Wine Breaks, French Antiques &amp; Restoration courses, French Language courses and French Cookery classes. Our home is completely furnished with Antique French furniture that we have rescued &amp; restored ourselves. Our charming village has one of the oldest Churches in the region &amp; it is famous for its connection with the St.Jacques de Compostella Pilgrimage route, as well as being within the Cognac &amp; Bordeaux wine growing area. <br /><br />We have a wonderful garden where we grow ALL of our own herbs and most of our fruit and vegetables. I specialise in rare, unusual and old-fashioned herbs, which I grow in our walled garden. As well as growing herbs, I also grow many different varieties of lavender, old-fashioned shrub roses and heirloom fruit and vegetables. <br /><br />We have lived overseas for many, many years now - but we both still love going home to Northern England, near Scarborough &amp; York, to visit our family &amp; friends. 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