“This is a perfect salad for autumn with the sweet taste of figs, salty pancetta, and the bitter crunch of frisée,” says Waters. “I like to mix red wine vinegar and balsamic together; I find balsamic vinegar a bit too sweet on its own.”
Ingredients
Pancetta croûtons
Method
Main
1.Tear off and discard the tough, dark outer leaves from frisée. Remove and discard the root ends of each head, separate the individual leaves, wash and dry well.
2.Preheat oven to 190C. Halve figs lengthways and arrange in a roasting pan cut-side up. Sprinkle with 1 tsp of each vinegar and oil, season to taste, then bake until soft (7-10 minutes).
3.Mix shallots and remaining vinegars in a small bowl and season to taste. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to marry the flavours, then add extra-virgin olive oil and combine. Check taste, adding extra vinegar, oil and salt as needed. Add any roasting juices from figs into the vinaigrette.
4.Cut bread lengthways into eight 2cm-wide sticks and brush with oil. Wrap each bread stick with a slice of pancetta, place on an oven tray lined with baking paper and bake until pancetta begins to crisp (10 minutes). Keep warm.
5.To serve, toss frisée with some vinaigrette in a serving bowl, then arrange figs and pancetta croûtons on the greens.
Note This recipe is from The Art of Simple Food II ($40, hbk) by Alice Waters, published by Clarkson Potter and reproduced with GT style changes.
Drink Suggestion: An off-dry rosé. Drink suggestion by Max Allen
Notes
