I was anxious to use the newly arrived bounty of ingredients as soon as possible, so we invited some friends over for dinner, and decided to make a salad as a starter. Before deciding on the final roster of ingredients for the salad, we first tried out a critical pairing to see if it would taste good…
A luscious ripe fig with a small slice of triple cream goat brie drizzled with homemade guava jelly and a tiny twist of freshly gorund pepper. I know it may sound odd, but it tasted incredibly good!
So to make the salad, I started with a few leaves of buttercrunch lettuce on a glass plate. I added three ripe figs, cut open with wedges of triple cream goat brie drizzled with guava jelly and some ground pepper. Next I added thin slices of prosciutto and several arils of pomegranate for color. A drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar and voila!
The salad was huge hit. The saltiness of the prosciutto worked well with the sweet ripe figs, the richness of the brie, the subtle flavor of guava jelly, hints of olive oil and hits of acid from the balsamic vinegar and the bursts of sweetness from the pomegranates over a few pieces of greens… YUM. Serious YUM. We made several salads on large plates and they were all wiped out. One of our guests couldn’t eat pork so we served it without the prosciutto and it worked well nonetheless. This salad was a feast for the eyes and tastebuds. And super easy to assemble if you happen to have access to all the ingredients…
21 Responses
Riotous color. Already visually appetizing.
AAAAAWESOME!!!!! I’m so hungry for this MM. All your pictures speak for themselves. BRAVO!
I’m sure the salad was explosive both in color and taste.
MM, Hi! How do you eat pomegranate? Is it safe to eat the seeds? Can i use it for smoothies? Thanks!
lookie, actually, I am just learning the different used of pomegranate seeds/arils just like you. But yes, I eat the “seeds” as it’s too much hassle to spit them out. I suspect they would work in smoothies, though it wouldn’t be too smooth… :)
wonderful, creative use of Mrs. MM’s goody bag!
Try grilling figs with a pungent cheese– roquefort or gorgonzola. Yummmm.
MM,thanks for the response. Actually last night, at work was the first time in probably thirty years that i ate it again. A co- worker brought it to work. I have forgotten how I ate it back home.My american friends were wondering what they were even some of my Filipina co- workers dont know what pomegranates are. We were in SF also a few weeks ago, had most of the stuff that Mrs.MM brought you, a day trip to Napa and Sonoma ,a Robert Mondavi wine tasting. Fun.
Wow.
MM really never fail to pay attention on the aesthetic value of every food he prepares…Its flower arrangement to me rather than a salad…but it looks appetizing too!!!yumyum! MM where do you get your fresh figs? what we have here in our local supermarket are dried figs…i dont want to steal those tiny figs at arambaulo mansions hehhe…I will also try if basi wine would work well with salads…the taste is somewhat near balsamic vinegar…
wow, MarketMan, that is some delicious dish you have there, i have always wanted to taste pomegranate and figs… yumm…
love your posts btw .^_^.
Yes, MM, I have a book of smoothies and there’s a recipe for pomegranate smoothies. Maybe, the seeds are also good anti-oxidants just like the grape seeds. :)
I have never tried figs before, only now did I know it is a fruit! I thought it was some sort of a vegetable :))
I love those figs. It’s one of my favorite fruits.
I wonder if blitzing pomegranate for smoothies is like blitzing passion fruit, where the seeds sink to the bottle of the glass. MM, your salad looks divine, and I’m sure it tastes that, too.
I’ve had soft goat cheese (chevre) & smoked aged goat cheese – preferring the soft chevre.
But I haven’t heard of goat cheese brie – it must be aged, to form the rind. In your photo it looks runny & yellowish – did you “bake” it for a bit – like regular brie? What brand is it. Maybe they have a website & maybe they ship within continental USA.
MM did you remember the original owners of Coach handbags (Miles & Lillian Cahn) sold it to Betty Crocker (I think) so they could make goat cheese in a farm in Upstate New York (the Catskills)? Coach Farms Enterprise -Their latest addition to their award-winning goat cheese line is “The Artisan Goat’s Milk Ricotta”. They have an online store (not available at grocery or other retail stores).Chesses are reasonably priced, it’s the S&H that will kill you!
Here’s the link:
https://www.coachfarm.com/Index.html
Found this at amazon.com sold by WisconsinCheeseMart.com:
Cabrie Montchevre Brie – 4 oz round $4.75
I ordered 3 rounds – for $14.25 & 2-day S&H = $11.47
Am having a few chomps of pomegranate as I read this, the seeds are a pain, and sometimes I just have to spit them out after sucking out all the juice, I think it’s easier to eat an atis than a pomegranate! The fruits here in China aren’t as deep red in color as the one you got, more deep pink, tart and sweet at the same time.
Yum! Great idea to use figs with creamy cheese. Waht a luxurious salad, I think I’ll make it this weekend. MM did you use aged balsamic (the slightly sweet kind)?
When you do visit the San Francisco Bay Area, don’t miss checking out the Russian River Valley area. There’s a program called Farm Trails (www.farmtrails.org) that provides information about different farms that you can visit–hopping from one farm to another and sampling their products like you would do when you’re wine-tasting.
Joyful Cook, thanks for that tip. LAflip, yes, aged balsamic works well with the other “luxurious” ingredients in this salad. Mila, eat the seeds! :)