The sweetness of fruit and savoury salty tang of feta in this light fresh fig and feta salad with pine nuts are summer on a plate for me. The juice of the figs runs into the sourdough croutons giving them a flavour burst with crunch and chew at the same time.
Don’t just think of figs as a sweet dessert dish, use them in all sorts of ways. This fig and feta salad is super easy to make and tastes wonderful.
All those lovely flavours and textures coming together on one plate of glorious Greek sunshine no matter where you are or what the weather is like.
What are the ingredients for this salad
- You’ll need four ripe fresh figs
- some sourdough bread
- a clove of garlic
- some good feta cheese
- Greek yogurt
- some pine nuts
- salad leaves
- and also a few ingredients for the dressing; olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey and salt and pepper.
How to make this salad
The only cooking part of this recipe involves toasting the pine nuts and baking the sourdough bread croutons, how easy is that!
Once you’ve toasted the pine nuts and made the croutons this is really just an assembly job. My kind of cooking, quick and easy, minimal fuss and good, healthy tasty results.
Pro tips;
When you are toasting pine nuts in a dry pan it literally takes about a minute. Do not under any circumstances answer your phone, go to the loo or do anything that necessitates you moving from the stove. These pine nuts with burn incredibly fast and then be utterly useless.
As soon as they take on some golden colour and start to release that gorgeous nutty aroma they are ready. Now tip them out of the hot pan right away on to a small plate. If you leave them in the pan even though it is off the heat the residual heat will continue to cook the nuts.
I mix up my salad dressings in a small jar. It’s just a case of putting in all the ingredients and giving it a good shake. Any leftover dressing will keep in the fridge for a few days. Saves on washing up.
Salad leaves
I’ve gone for rocket/arugula leaves for my fig and feta salad. I like the pepperiness of rocket and think it goes well with the sweetness of the juicy figs and the saltiness of that lovely creamy feta cheese. If you are not a fan of rocket then just use whatever salad leaves you prefer.
Salad dressing
I have used red wine vinegar for this dressing, I like the strength of it against the figs. If you prefer white wine vinegar go with that. Other ingredients are Greek honey, olive oil and salt and pepper. Keep it simple and let the salad ingredients themselves sing.
How many does this fig and feta salad serve?
I’ve given ingredients for 2 servings here. Want more? Then just double up the recipe.
Substitutions;
Don’t like pine nuts? Then use almonds instead, I think toasted flaked almonds would be rather lovely in this recipe.
No sourdough bread for the croutons? Don’t worry just use a few slices of French bread or any other good bread you have to hand.
Kali Orexi!
If you are looking for more super summery salad ideas, then check these out;
Greek salad with homemade tzatziki
Salad Nicoise with smoked mackerel
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Fresh Fig and Feta Salad
Ingredients
- 125 g sourdough bread
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 figs quartered
- 100 g feta
- 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
- 100 g salad leaves
Dressing
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp honey runny honey
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F
- Rub the slices of sourdough bread with garlic all over and tear into bite sized pieces
- Place these on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes till golden, turning half way through
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan for less than 1 minute, they just want to go golden and become aromatic
- Mix the feta cheese with the Greek yogurt
- Mix up the salad dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake well
- Plate up the salad leaves with the figs and croutons and add the feta and yogurt
- Drizzle over with the dressing
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