I don’t recall ever eating a fig until a couple of years ago when we got them in a CSA box. I wasn’t even sure what they were when they arrived with all of the other fruits and vegetables. I think the Big Man had to tell me.
So, I washed one off and took a bite. It was a tad strange texture for someone who had never had one before, but it was super sweet. Yummmmmm-me!
Then I got this strange image in my mind of eating Fig Newtons with my mom when I was younger.
“Holy Mackerel! These taste just like Fig Newtons. That’s so weird. Why would they taste like a cookie? Oh…”
Wait a minute. Figs. FIG Newtons. Lightbulb!
OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Fig Newtons are made with figs. Ah-ha. So why don’t more people eat figs if the cookies are so dang popular.
(OK. For anyone who remembers the silly commercials, which are now going through my mind every time I call Fig Newtons a cookie, I know they are not “cookies.” They are Newtons. 😉 Even though while trying to find this commercial, all of the older ads called them cookies. Eh.)
Anyway, I could have just gobbled them all up right there.
No. Wait. I did.
The next time we got figs in our CSA box, I made this fabulous recipe from my friend Nancy at The Sensitive Pantry of Honeyed Figs with Rosemary and Goat Cheese. She hasn’t posted anything new for a while, but all her old recipes are still there and still very good. And yes, the Honeyed Figs are amazing.
One of our local growers at our farmers’ market has figs right now. Just beautiful. They have lots of great organic produce and amazing prices, but the figs just steal my heart.
And in this Kale Salad with Figs, Prosciutto, and Walnuts the figs show off their beauty and sweet taste.
And the prosciutto. Well….. Salty meats are always good. And I can eat prosciutto unlike a lot of other processed meats.
Enjoy the recipe, and I’m curious. How do you feel about figs? Prefer them in the cookie/newton form? Love to eat them straight? Like them as a nice addition to another dish?
Kale Salad with Figs, Prosciutto, and Walnuts
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Kale (curly)
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil
- 1 Lemon
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
- 1 cup Figs (chopped)
- 1 cup Walnuts
- 4 slices Prosciutto (torn into pieces)
Instructions
- Wash and dry the kale.
- Tear kale into bit size pieces, removing the stems completely. Place in large bowl.
- Sprinkle olive oil over the top.
- Juice the lemon and sprinkle over the top.
- Massage the oil and juice into the kale. (The goal is to not have any of the white cloudy film left on the kale. You want every piece nice and shiny. Just like the picture above.)
- Grind a bit of salt and pepper on top. Mix up the kale.
- Sprinkle the figs, walnuts and prosciutto on top.
- Add your salad tongs and serve.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
Hi Mark, we eat a lot of figs in the mediterranean coast (Alicante, Spain) where I live. Some people remove all the peel with a knife.
We have 2 seasons for harvesting figs: june and september. Figs in june are much bigger, we call them (in spanish) ‘breva’ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breva.
Figs in september are much sweet but small. We call them ‘higo’ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higo.