Supper Club: Roasted fig and goat’s cheese salad with hazelnut and honeycomb

Land cress may be hard to come by, but it is perfectly substituted by watercress or a mixture of watercress and rocket (sometimes I find watercress on its own too overpowering). All these salad greens are fiery and peppery, which is just what’s needed to balance the sweetness of the figs. I use honey still in its comb, breaking it into chunks so that it becomes an integral part of the salad. It’s amazing and worth a try if you have never had it before.

Roasted figs and goat’s cheese salad with hazelnut and honeycomb
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 125g baby figs, halved (alternatively use 3 regular figs, quartered)
• 2 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 40g blanched hazelnuts
• 120g land cress (or a mix of watercress and rocket)
• 70g firm goat’s cheese, sliced
• 30g honeycomb (or 2 tbsp runny honey)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• celery salt (or regular sea salt)
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6.
2. Place the figs on a roasting tray, drizzle with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes.
3. Place the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat and toast until golden brown. Transfer to a chopping board and roughly chop when cool enough to handle.
4. Arrange the land cress on each plate, along with the roasted figs, chopped hazelnuts and goat’s cheese. Break the honeycomb into small chunks all over the salad (this is a bit messy but I quite enjoy it!) and finish with a drizzle of the remaining balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Season with a generous pinch of celery salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Extracted from Skinny Salads by Kathryn Bruton (Kyle Books). Photograph by Laura Edwards.