Fig season is winding down but would you believe I still have some on my tree, which I’m either giving away as tips/birthday/wedding/(early) Christmas pressies or I’m making something with them. This is a salad that my missus made herself for lunch the other day. The toasted walnuts really add a great flavor to this salad.

RECIPE:
Serves one

large handful of fresh lettuce leaves
3 fresh figs, sliced in quarters
1 oz. walnut halves, toasted dry in a pan
sprinkling of blue cheese
2 tbsp. homemade balsamic dressing

Balsamic Vinaigrette:
2 1/2 tbsp mustard
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup fresh oregano
1 1/2 cups olive oil
1 tsp agave / honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 pepper

Directions:
Put all the ingredients,  except the oil in a blender. With the machine running, drizzle in oil. Vinaigrette will emulsify.
Taste for additional seasoning if required.

Store refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.

Alternatively if you do not have a blender use a recycled, clean, pasta or condiment jar. Put all the ingredients in the jar and give it a good shake.
NOTE: Fine chop the herbs first before mixing.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

My neighbor not only has a fantastic fig tree (that I’ve been delving into for the past few weeks), but she also had success this year growing fresh tomatoes. The poor crater hasn’t even been in town to enjoy the fruits of her labor so to speak, but we certainly have (with her blessing of course!)

left on our doorstep

Thanks Cristina but now what to do with them? Figs and tomatoes….

You see, I wasn’t really big on figs until I found myself with a tree full of  ‘em so pardon me if I went searching for recipes online. Didn’t take me too long to find this gem created by A Gluten Free Guide. I know it may sound strange but this salsa is the dogs bollix. Right now figs are in season so it’s the perfect time to make this with fresh figs vs. dried. For those of you that missed my
Fig and Goats Cheese Pizza from last week it’s well worth a gander. Quick and damn tasty!

Healthy Fig and Avocado Salsa Recipe

1 cup diced dried figs or 3 cups diced fresh figs
juice of one lime
3 medium firm ripe California avocados, diced
3 fresh jalapenos, small diced, seeds and ribs removed
2-3 medium, vine-ripened tomatoes, diced, seeds removed
4 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 small cloves of garlic, minced

TIP: If you use agave like I did, you can use less than honey because it’s sweeter than honey.

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir gently. Refrigerate several hours to let flavors blend. Serve with gluten-free corn tortilla chips.

(It’s great right away if you are like me and aren’t patient enough to wait for it to come out of the fridge.)

This salsa lasted about 2 days in my house because it was so good. Thanks to Catherine for this idea!
Cheers!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Since I started ‘borrowing’ my neighbors figs from their tree, I’ve been using them in all sorts of dishes from frozen yogurt to couscous to salsa and now a simple pizza. When I do venture out to have some pizza (a rarity usually with drink involved) I’ll always go for a thin crust version. Less filling, tastes great (name that ad!)
With all the figs that seem to have ‘arrived’ somehow in my possession I thought this would work great in a pizza, plus I needed something quick to make for my hungry and cranky Missus. I’ve made a similar type pizza before with lavash but I found this multi-grain flat bread version with flax, which I thought would make great alternative. (Turns out it did.) You might think this is a lot of fig but believe me it works and isn’t too sweet especially with the goats cheese. Total  joy–this last minute recipe turned out brilliantly!

RECIPE:

1 sheet wholewheat flat bread (lavash)
5/6 figs -topped, rough chop (for pizza base)
4/5 figs – topped, quartered
large handful of fresh spinach – washed, rough chop
2 ozs goats cheese – crumbled
2 tbsp fresh basil – chiffonade
Olive Oil
S&P

Balsamic reduction:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp agave
Cook on medium low heat for 10 minutes or until thickened.

TO MAKE PIZZA:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Brush flat bread with olive oil and par bake for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it. You just want to crisp the bread without browning too much.
Chop the pizza base figs and smear them on the crispy flat bread…GENTLY.

Layer with fresh spinach and top with quartered figs. Crumble cheese over and drizzle with olive oil. Season with S&P.
Bake in oven for 15 minutes until cheese is soft and figs are bubbling.

Remove from oven, drizzle balsamic reduction over the pizza and sprinkle fresh basil.

Delicious!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.