This has to be one of my favorite salads! The grilled figs add a gourmet touch to a simple bed of arugula and the balsamic dressing perfectly contrasts the sweetness of the figs. Enjoy!
ingredients for grilled fig salad
8 to 10 fresh figs washed, destemmed and cut in half
3 cups of arugula
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or other oil of your choice
sea salt
Preheat a grill pan or skillet to high heat. Lay out the figs, cut side up, on a cutting board. Brush the tops with coconut oil and then sprinkle with sea salt. Place the figs cut side down into the grill pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes - do not move them once you have placed them in the pan. While the figs are cooking, brush the other side with coconut oil. Flip the figs over and cook another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool 5 to 10 minutes.
ingredients for balsamic reduction
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses or pomegranate concentrate
While the figs are cooking, prepare the balsamic reduction. Add the above ingredients to a saucepan and heat to medium high. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You will know it has reduced if it coats the back of a spoon.
To serve, add the arugula to a large platter or bowl, top with the figs and then drizzle with the balsamic reduction.
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
~ Sylvia Plath
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