The wooden board in these photos was made by my friend Rosie Brewer, whose beautiful designs are made out of wood sourced from Devon forests. So, I wanted to make a simple salad to style on the board that wouldn’t take away from its natural beauty.

Due to an excess of figs, a somewhat middle class crisis, I chose to make them the focal point. I also have a certain affection for the combination of figs and cheese, so chose to add some Comté, one of my favourite cheeses. French, and made from unpasturised cow’s milk, Comté has a pleasant nutty taste, that went well with figs.

I tend to randomly throw things together when making salads, and have a fondness for combining fruit, cheese, nuts and a punchy dressing. But my primary consideration when making this salad was that the colours would work well on the board – I added thin slices of pink radishes purely for artistic reasons, as I don’t actually like them that much.

Have a browse of Rosie’s Etsy shop here.

 

2 ripe figs

100g comte, sliced

2 radishes, thinly sliced

2 handfuls mixed baby leaves

a few sprigs of coriander

5 pecan halves, toasted in a dry pan

 

Dressing:

Juice of ½ a lime

1 tsp runny honey

1 tbsp olive oil

 

First, make the dressing. Whisk together the lime juice and honey, then add the olive oil bit by bit until the mixture emulsifies. Arrange the leaves on a plate and top with the sliced radishes, quartered figs, comte, and coriander, then scatter over the pecans and drizzle with dressing.