The summer has ended Down Under and I am not just ready to let go of the season yet. Looks like the summer produce is not leaving either.
My local fresh foods market had a beautiful stock of figs and strawberries. It was hard to give beautiful produce like that a miss.
Although I’ve enjoyed fresh figs in smoothies and tarts but never in salads. The idea came from a day of city hopping; a restaurant menu had poached fig and feta salad, the very idea was instantly appealing.
Instead of poaching, I kept the salad simple, fresh and with a hint of heat.
The salad is full of flavours and textures. Your palate will be treated to tart, sweet, salty and spicy flavours – a colourful celebration of all things fresh.
Serves: 3 to 4
Ingredients
For the salad:
- Figs – 6
- Strawberry – 1 punnet
- Feta (full fat or reduced fat) – 50 gms
- Salad greens – 1 large bowl
- Chillies – As per you liking
- Salt and pepper – To season
For the salad:
- Balsamic vinegar – 4 tblspns
- Olive oil – 4 tblspns
- Chilli flakes (optional) – 1 tspn
Directions
- Clean and dry the figs and strawberries.
- Remove stem and/or leaves from the strawberries. Set the fruits aside.
- Slice the figs or halve them.
- Thinly slice the chillies. I used red coloured ones to go with the theme of the chosen fruits.
- In a small bowl, add all the ingredients under “For the dressing”.
- Whisk the ingredients well and keep aside.
- To assemble the salad, place the salad greens in a large bowl.
- Arrange the sliced/halved figs, feta and strawberries.
- Top it with the sliced chillies.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Drizzle the prepared dressing at the time of serving the salad.
- You can serve the salad chilled or in room temperature.
Tips:
- Add other berries to give it more variety.
- I did not poach or stew the figs. You could do so if you like the figs that way.
- I used firm feta. You crumbly or medium feta if you prefer.
- Goat’s feta or goat’s curd is a good alternative to feta for a more stronger taste.
- Use lemon juice in place of balsamic vinegar for the dressing.
- Replace salad greens with baby spinach.
- Use any variety of chilli to suit your tolerance. I used the long, mild variant as I wanted to keep the salad fresh, light and mildly spicy.