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
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6.
- Place the figs on a roasting tray, drizzle with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes.
- 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.
- 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.