Keep It Simple with Fig and Endive Salad

It's fig season... again. If you're scratching your head, and thinking that we just had a fig season, don't worry your memory isn't going soft. Figs are a bit unusual in that they have two seasons per year. With a smaller crop in spring and the main crop in early fall.

This is a ludicrously simple fig salad that uses only a handful of ingredients and yet it wouldn't look out of place in a Michelin starred restaurant. While the dish highlights the plump sweet figs glazed with balsamic vinegar, a salad of shredded endives dressed with oil roasted almonds provides some crunch, while the crumbled ricotta salata adds sharp, salty accents that keep the sweet figs in check.

Getting the almonds close to burnt without actually burning them imbues the salad with a marvelous nutty flavor and a savory crunch. Almonds start off browning very slowly, but once they start taking color, they go from light brown to black in a hurry so keep a close eye on them. Because the residual heat in the pan will continue browning the almonds, be sure to have your endives ready so you can toss them together as soon as the almonds are done.

For the balsamic try and find real aged balsamic vinegar that's thick and syrupy, if you can't afford the real stuff, go with one that's been reduced to a thick syrup-like consistency as it will cling to your figs better.