Baked figs with radicchio and goats cheese salad and a blackberry balsamic dressing

#7Recipes7Days is back! 7 delicious food and drink recipes in as many days coming up for you lovely people. Really excited to share these recipes with you – got some slightly more accessible ones, a couple of drinks in there as well, should be great. First up is one that I’m really proud of – bit of a showstopper salad. Definitely one to impress rather than a mid-week dinner, but well worth a go if you fancy something light but packed with flavour!

Follow along with the recipes by following me on Instagram (@OTCooks_Eats) if you don’t already. Stay tuned on here for the other recipes, but for now, here’s how to make this bad boy salad!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1/2 radicchio lettuce

• 100g goats cheese

• Small handful of walnuts

• 4 figs

• Squeeze of honey

• Pinch of thyme

• Handful of blackberries, cut in half lengthways

For the dressing

• Handful of blackberries

• 1 Tbsp honey

• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• 1/4 tsp pink peppercorns

• Splash of water

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Cut the very top part of the figs off, and make a small cross in the top of them, cutting about 1/3 of the way down the fig. Stuff a few thyme leaves inside each fig, and drizzle them all with honey. Place the figs on a baking sheet, and once the oven is up to temperature, cook the figs for 10-15 minutes, until gooey but still holding together. Once cooked, slice into quarters and set aside.

2. Cut out the hard white part of the radicchio lettuce, and slice into strips. Crumble up the goats cheese. Roughly chop the walnuts. Set these ingredients aside.

3. To make the dressing, add the handful of blackberries into a saucepan on a medium/low heat. Add in the balsamic vinegar, honey, crushed pink peppercorns, lemon juice, honey and a splash of water to the pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, until the blackberries have gone to mush. Blend the entire mixture, and push through a sieve. If you want to make the dressing thicker, simply place the dressing back in the saucepan and simmer until it reaches your desired thickness.

4. To assemble the salad, combine the leaves, nuts, cheese and mix thoroughly together. Place the fig quarters on top of the salad, and add the dressing. Sprinkle over a few thyme leaves to garnish, and serve.

I really hope you like this one. Spent a while thinking about the flavour combinations, and turned out really nicely when I tried it. Think this would be a good meal to impress someone special, or just for a fancy dinner party. As always, let me know if you make it by tagging me on instagram @OTCooks_Eats – would love to see your guys creations! Remember to stay tuned for the rest of the week, got 6 more delicious recipes coming this week for my #7Recipes7Days.

Thanks lovely people!

OT x

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