30 Jul Lavender Honey Fig Tart & Arugula Salad
Abundance of Figs
What a wonderful surprise to receive an abundance of figs from my neighbor this weekend! I thought about a few different recipes, but finally decided on a Lavender Honey Fig Tart and an Arugula salad on the side with Lavender Honey Balsamic Vinegar Dressing. I have included both recipes below for you and hope you enjoy!
Xoxoxo
D
Is the Fig a Fruit?
Figs are soft and rounded or a pear-shape and are thought to be a fruit, but they are really a flower! It’s known as an inflorescence. This is a cluster of many flowers and seeds within a bulbous stem. It has been described as an inverted flower!
The fig is actually low in calories if eaten fresh vs. dried figs. When figs are dried, they are high in sugar and rich in calories, as the sugar becomes concentrated when dried.
Figs are nutritious and contain many health benefits to those who consume them.
Other nutritional values of Fresh Figs:
- Good source of Fiber, which aids in digestive health
- Decrease risk of heart disease
- Help to manage blood sugar levels
- Low in Calories
- Rich in Copper & B6
Lavender Honey Fig Tart with Blue Cheese
There are over 700 named varieties of fig trees! My neighbor gave me figs this past week and they were perfect for the recipe I made below, but I don’t know which variety they were. Some varieties include: Black Mission, Brown Turkey, Sierra, King, Kadota, Calimyrna, Adriatic, Papa John, O’Rourke, Osborn Prolific, Marseilles and Celeste. So many more though!
These recipes can be adjusted to your liking! If you don’t like blue cheese, adjust to feta or goat cheese. Also, to add a nutty flavor, an option would be to add pecans, walnut or pine nuts. If you eat meat, you can add prosciutto to this recipe also!
I love lavender and thought adding this floral Lavender Honey to the Fig Tart recipe would be so delicious. I loved how it turned out, but regular honey can be used instead!
To begin, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
My sister gave me this beautiful Himalayan Salt mortar & pestle a few years ago and I have been in love with it! I used it for this recipe to smash the rosemary needles with the olive oil. It also adds flavor to the olive oil and rosemary as it is infusing together.
I found one similar online. Click HERE
Toss flour on your kitchen counter or if you want to have less mess to clean up, use parchment paper and toss flour on top of it. Take the cooled dough and unfold it. Then, roll out your dough on the floured counter or parchment paper area until about 1/4 inch thick. I unfolded two sheets of puff pastry and formed one around to fit a rectangular tart pan and also the other sheet to form and fit around a round pan as an example for this post. I continued on using the rectangular tart pan for this recipes and used the round one for another recipe. I pressed the dough into the sides and corners, but was not making this quite as pretty because I knew it would puff up and change form as it baked.
Arrange the halved figs cut-side up on the dough in the tart pan, making sure they are filled closely together with each other.
You can drizzle the rosemary oil onto the figs or use a pastry brush, brushing on the rosemary oil to every fig half.
Sprinkle each fig with salt. I used gound Himalayan Salt again and have linked a similar Himalayan Salt grinder here to check out!
Click HERE
Drizzle the lavender honey and also thickened balsamic vinegar on top of the figs. You can use a regular honey and a regular balsamic vinegar.
If you have a balsamic vinegar that is not as thick and is very liquid, this could make your pastry soggy. This recipe calls for a thicker balsamic vinegar for that reason so it will not be soggy when you are finished baking. If you don’t have a thicker balsamic vinegar, do not worry! You can thicken it very quickly on your own!
To thicken a more liquid balsamic vinegar, start by boiling it in a sauce pan a minute or so. Boil it down until it is about half of the liquid and becomes thicker or like a syrup!
Cover the figs and fill in spaces with blue cheese (or you can choose to use feta cheese or goat cheese). Top with the rest of the rosemary needles if any are left from the rosemary oil mortar and pestle.
Bake 20-25 minutes until color of edges of dough are crispy and brown. (my oven took 25 min)
And it is ready! I loved how this pastry filled out in the pan. It’s is definitely not perfect but so pretty all the same! This rectangular pan I have loved baking with. I found it online and is linked below.
For the rectangular tart pan I have in the pictures, Click HERE
This is another tart pan from another store, HERE
Now for a salad to complement!
Arugula Salad with Lavender Honey Balsamic Vinegar Dressing
I made this side salad for my Fig Tart. I made an individual salad by adjusting and taking the measurements down for one serving, but this recipe below is for 4 Servings.
Arugula Fig Salad with Lavender Honey Balsamic Dressing
Makes 4 servings
5 cups Arugula
1/4 cup pecans, chopped and toasted if you prefer
8 figs, halved
2 oz blue cheese or goat cheese or feta cheese
To make the Lavender Honey Balsamic Dressing:
2 Tbsp Lavender Honey or Regular Honey
3 Tbsp Fig Balsamic Vinegar or Regular Balsamic Vinegar
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
salt & pepper
To Make the Salad:
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together lavender honey, fig balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper.
In a large serving bowl, toss to combine arugula and dressing.
Top salad with pecans, figs, and cheese.
Serve.
Lavender Honey Fig Tart with Blue Cheese
1 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary, washed and needles pulled off of sprig
1 lb of Figs, firm or soft will work great (I used around 22 smaller, softer figs from my bunch to fit in the rectangular tart dish), Stemmed & Halved
1 Sheet Puff Pastry, thawed but still cool
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar, thickened
2 Tbsp Lavender Honey or Regular Honey
1/4 cup or more to cover of blue cheese crumbles
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
With a mortar & pestle, smash the rosemary needles with the olive oil for a minute or so. Set aside.
Toss flour on your kitchen counter or use parchment paper and toss flour on top of it.
Roll out your dough on the floured counter or parchment paper area until about 1/4 inch thick.
Arrange halved figs cut-side up on the dough, making sure they are filled together closely with each other.
You can drizzle or use a pastry brush, brush on the rosemary oil to every fig half.
Sprinkle each fig with salt.
Drizzle the lavender honey and also thickened balsamic vinegar on top.
Cover the figs and fill in with blue cheese.
Top with the rest of the rosemary needles if any left from the rosemary oil mortar and pestle.
Bake 20-25 minutes until color of edges of dough are crispy and brown.
