RECIPE OF THE WEEK Posted on 29th December 2011
Apologies for not sharing my Christmas inspired dish before the big day. Sometimes life can get like that and before you know it the days have flown by and you just haven’t done everything you planned.
My first instinct was to share the incredible Plum pudding semifredo with caramel sauce and boozy prunes (from Karen Martini’s “Cooking at Home”) which was a knock out hit. But with many of us feeling like we’ve overdone it with the eating and drinking, I’ve decided on something that’s a bit fresh and healthy, but so beautiful that will be the belle of any party table.
Fig with basil, goats curd and pomegranate vinaigrette
This recipe is from Ottolenghi’s Plenty. I am so obsessed with this incredible book and think it is essential to any collection-especially for vegetarians. Just looking through it now I feel inspired to cook a new dish for lunch today.
I added pomegranate seeds to my version which gave it a festive twist. Aren’t they like little gems glistening on your plate that are almost too gorgeous to eat?
Ingredients: 1 shallot, finely chopped, ½ tsp Dijon mustard, 2 tsp pomegranate molasses, 3 tbsp olive oil plus extra to finish, 40g rocket, 20g mix purple and green basil leave s (I only had green), 8 ripe figs, at room temp, 70g goats curd or a young and creamy goat’s cheese, salt & black pepper.
Method: 1. Place the shallot, mustard and pomegranate molasses in a medium bowl 2. Add some salt & pepper and whisk vigorously as you slowly pour in the olive oil (aiming for a nice homogenous dressing) 3. Add most of the rocket and basil leaves to the dressing, reserving some to finish the salad and toss gently 4. Lift the dressed leaves onto a large serving plate, spreading them out to line it. 5. Cut the figs vertically into quarters and arrange over the leaves 6. Next, dot the figs and leaves with teaspoons of curd 7. Scatter the reserved leaves on top 9with the pomegranate seeds I added) drizzle with extra oil and season with salt and pepper.
