FIG & GOAT CHEESE SALAD with Honeyed Walnuts

Fig & Goat Cheese Salad with Honeyed Walnuts

This salad is so simple it barely requires a recipe. Feel free to use what you have on hand, end of season stone fruit would be lovely instead of figs, and maybe hazelnuts in place of walnuts...

Ingredients

Honey Walnuts

• 1/2 cup freshly cracked walnuts
• 1 tablespoon local honey
• big pinch of sea salt

Salad

• several handfuls of salad greens
• 4-5 figs cut into wedges
• 100 g goat chevre or feta crumbled
• juice of half a 1/2 lemon
• extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Preheat oven 150.
• Place the walnuts in a small oven-proof dish, drizzle with honey and sprinkle with salt. Place in the oven for 5 minutes until just starting to colour and the honey is caramelising. Cool a little.
• Arrange the salad greens on a large serving platter. Top with the figs and goat cheese and sprinkle with the honeyed walnuts. Dress with a big squeeze of lemon and generous drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately.

Did you know it’s National Honey Week? I don’t often jump on a campaign, however, this is something close to my heart [and garden]. This is a week to celebrate the little honey bee that is so essential for pollination of many edible plants and fruit trees that nourish us. Without them we would have a lot less food at our fingertips. So, suffice to say, I am all for honouring them and looking after them.

I recently heard bees being referred to as livestock. And I suppose that is what they are for a beekeeper, their livelihood, and it is in their every interest to protect them. New Zealand is well-known for not using antibiotics for the treatment of bee diseases. Kiwi beekeepers have the most disease free bees in the world and produce honey that is 100% natural. And we lucky to have easy access to quality honey at Farmers’ Markets and supermarkets all around the country.

The next stage in our garden, now we have 5 happy chooks, is a home for bees. We don’t have a problem with pollination as there are beehives close by. However, it can never hurt to have more bees for even more pollination. And… we get to eat the honey! My husband is keen to be the beekeeper, and I am happy to deal with the honey. That’s kinda how we flow around here. He looks after the livestock and I make sure nothing goes to waste.

First we have some research to do as there are several bee housing options available. Luckily we have excellent local honey at our finger tips. One of my favourite beekeepers, Norbert, sells his small-batch honey alongside beautiful hand-carved green stone at the local market. Norbert’s honey is something special. He uses completely organic methods to control varroa mite, and processors and packages all the honey by hand.

So when I was planning what recipe to make for Honey Week I knew it had to be something with Norbert’s honeycomb. Partly because I had some leftover from a photo shoot, but also because it has the most amazing ‘untouched’ flavour and just looks so fabulous. It is all about the aesthetics in food styling! Although I have to be honest, chewing on beeswax isn’t really what I envisioned in the salad. So I filtered out the liquid golden honey through a sieve for several hours.

I like to think of this salad as an ode to eating local. The honey, as we have already ascertained, is from local bees / the figs, greens and lemon are from our garden / the goat cheese is homemade from Tapawera goat milk / even the extra virgin olive oil is from a local grove [you can fill your own bottle for $20/litre at Prego]. This salad perfectly sums up what I share here on Homegrown Kitchen, eating in season, homegrown when possible, sourcing local, and supporting the little guys. Even the honeybees! Happy Honey Week 🙂

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