I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of moving to the centre of town a week ago. So it is quite fitting that this Fig and Beetroot Salad came to being after I bought the figs from one of the many fruit and veg street vendors in the city centre.
Their stalls are always bright splashes of colour within the concrete of the city and it is a treat to see how the produce change as the seasons progress. The price for the figs was insanely cheap. 4 Punnets for R10 (1 US dollar). You could easily pay R30 or R40 for 6 figs at the retailers. I must have asked him about 3 times if that was the correct price. I was late as it is but there was no ways I was not going to get these beauties so bought them, walked back home to drop them off and was even later for my appointment. But it was so worth it!
My initial idea was to bake with the figs but they were just too beautiful to let them disappear into some batter, so I grabbed my newly acquired Plenty More recipe book from Ottolenghi as I recalled there were some recipes with figs. In there he has a fig salad with roasted red onions and I took that as inspiration for this salad.
I wanted to keep it all in the hue of dark reds with splashes of fresh bright green so added some roasted beetroot to the mix. For the leaves I only used baby leaves as I wanted the flavour to be as intense as possible.
Roast the onions to a deep caramalisation. That slight burnt flavour and saltiness goes so well with the sweetness of the figs and beetroot. You could add Feta cheese but I liked the salad as is and there is enough salt coming from the roasted onions.
I hope you enjoy this recipe for Fig and Beetroot Salad. Remember to share your pics with me on Instagram when you’ve made it. And if you have any figs leftover try these delicious Grilled Fig and Labneh Tartines
Ingredients
- 2 large red onions
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- good pinch of sea salt
- 6 whole beetroot cooked (preferably roasted) and peeled
- 6 large figs
- a mix of baby spinach and baby salad leaves of your choice try to get some red leaves like radicchio
- a handful of fresh basil leaves
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.
- Peel the onions and slice each one into 6 wedges.
- Drizzle with a tbsp of the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt.
- Roast for 20 – 25 minutes, stirring once through roasting, until the onions are soft and the edges caramalised and crispy.
- Remove and set a side
- Slice each beetroot into 8 wedges
- Slice each fig into 4 – 6 pieces depending on the size
- Place half the leaves on a platter
- Place half the onions, beetroot and figs on top
- Top with the rest of the leaves
- Top with the rest of the onions, figs and beetroot
- Scatter the basil leaves over the salad
- Whisk the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and balsamic together and drizzle over the salad and serve
- Adapted from Ottolenghi
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Selma | Selma's Table
Mar 9, 2015
Your backstory reminds me of last spring when raspberries were £3 for a puny 200g punnet in the shops but the chap who has a stall on the street corner was selling 2 enormous punnets for a £1. In any case, I know who I would much rather support. An absolutely stunning looking salad, Hein – I shall have to hunt out some figs to give it a go. Your photographs just keep going from strength to strength!
hein
Mar 9, 2015
Thank you so much Selma. And I’d much rather support the small guy too with his perhaps imperfect produce. Happy with these photos too – I think they would look quite nice in the Hemelhuijs menu 😉
Sune Moolman
Mar 10, 2015
I was only able to get a hold of green figs this season, which weren’t bad, but these just look amazing!
Only recently discovered your blog and I’m working my way through it – it’s a gem!
hein
Mar 10, 2015
Thank you so much Sune. I have been seeing more of the black figs in the last week or so.
Zirkie
Mar 13, 2015
Sjoe, Hein, dit s omtrent ‘n winskopie! Ek is mal oor vye en hierdie slaai klink heerlik. Jou fotos is stunning!
hein
Mar 13, 2015
Dankie Zirkie. Het my oog oopgehou vir nog vye teen daai prys maar nie so gelukkig gewees nie.
Zirkie
Mar 13, 2015
Sjoe, Hein, dit is omtrent ‘n winskopie! Ek is mal oor vye en hierdie slaai klink heerlik. Jou fotos is stunning!