Fig Salad with Adobo Vinaigrette

In my book a Fig Newton has nothing to do with a fresh fig. I love the latter and do not care for the former. If your palate’s only knowledge of figs is through a Fig Newton, get your butt to a produce section and give the original a taste. Fig season started not too long ago and you still have a few good weeks before having to wait till next summer to enjoy these sweet tender fruits again.

You can eat these fruits as is, but I love throwing fruit into my salad (here and here), and it turns out that figs are a great addition to a salad. The first time I saw figs in a salad was on the menu of Gracias Madre one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants in San Francisco. However it wasn’t just the figs that were so interesting, it was also the dressing. Mixed greens and figs were tossed with an adobo sauce based dressing. It was spicy, smoky and the perfect complement to sugary figs.

When fig season rolls around, so does this salad. If we have goat cheese or feta on hand, I’ll sprinkle some on before serving. Otherwise, I like to keep it naked and simple to let these sweet and smoky flavors meld together for a late summertime treat.

How do you enjoy figs? Please share in the comments below!

• About adobo sauce: I typically purchase adobo sauce as part of canned chipotles. You can puree the chipotles with mayonnaise for some chipotle mayo or mix them up into ground meat for tacos or burgers.
• About figs: There are lots of types of figs but the two most common you’ll see at the market are black mission figs or green figs. The latter tend to be not as sweet and are a little firmer. I find that all are great but for dessert, black mission may be better for a more sugary taste.