I was delighted to receive this submission by Lucille, a reader of the blog, in response to my Greenmarket post on Saturday. It’s so flattering that people like the blog enough to try my recipes AND to follow up with pictures and feedback!
Moreover, it’s just a great salad. The sweetness of the figs is balanced by rich and tangy gorgonzola, peppery arugula, and the acidity of a red-wine vinegar and olive oil dressing. At the end of a hot day, when a cooked dinner is not an option, I would throw together a mini version of this for myself, and accompany it with a big glass of chilled, buttery chardonnay.
PS: it’s really, really easy.
Arugula Salad with Figs:
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Bundle of arugula, or one pre-packaged bag
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1/2 pint figs, halved
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1/2 cup gorgonzola crumbles
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Olive oil and red-wine vinegar, to taste
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Freshly-ground pepper, to taste
To rinse arugula, untie the bundle and plunge into bowl of cold water. Using your hand, swish around the leaves, loosening dirt and sand. Pour contents of bowl into a collander. Refill bowl with water, retrieve arugula from colander, and swish again. Repeat until water in bowl remains clear.
Put arugula through a salad spinner, then place into salad bowl. Toss fig halves haphazardly on top, and scatter over the gorgonzola. Drizzle with oil and vinegar, add pepper, then toss to combine. Serve on plates, or let diners help themselves.
Serves 4 as a side or starter, 2 as a main course.
Comments 8
The combination of figs and cheese is so awesome.
Posted 11 Sep 2007 at 4:12 pm ¶I’ve never actually eaten a fresh fig, and have no idea what to do with them, but they’re so pink and gorgeous in this picture that I want to try this salad. No one else in my family would eat it, so I’m thinking a nice dinner some night all alone – only with beer, not wine. I’m a beer girl.
Posted 11 Sep 2007 at 9:43 pm ¶Fresh figs make all the difference. If you know anyone who grows their own figs (usually an old Italian man) I would try to get some around this time of the year. There is no comparison between fresh and store-bought… just like how when you go and pick strawberries they are so much better than what pass for strawberries at the supermarket.
Posted 12 Sep 2007 at 11:51 pm ¶This salad looks delish. There is little better in the world than figs and good cheese. I love it so much I name my blog after it: http://figswithbri.com/
Posted 13 Sep 2007 at 7:36 pm ¶I’ll have to try your salad. What a great way to end this amazing summer of produce we’ve had. Thanks!
love your site … the food looks devine – only problem is that I am from Australia, we do metric measure and I have no idea of some of the ingredients but am willing to look into what to swap.
You might like to know, you made it to our City’s newspaper today, “Adelaide Advertiser” – probably 1 million in our city…..Saturday sept 15 – we have a section called “Net adventures” – that is how I found your site……
Posted 15 Sep 2007 at 8:02 am ¶Keep up the good work….
Mary:
Thank you so much for your kind comments! I am currently investigating good ways to add a measurement converter to the recipes.
Thanks for the heads-up on the newspaper article; I’m thrilled!
Posted 15 Sep 2007 at 8:59 am ¶Wonderful Salad! As a sugestion, to the figs I added some crust Prosciutto on top and became a master piece.Thank you for your site.
Posted 19 Sep 2007 at 2:32 am ¶Figs, wine, arugula and cheese… you got me! Not only is this beautifully photographed, but I feel I can visually taste how wonderful this salad would be. I am definitely going to try this.
Posted 23 Sep 2007 at 10:44 am ¶Trackbacks & Pingbacks 1
[...] grown figs are one of the few plants that are worth it to invest the time, work, and space [...]
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