Crispy Prosciutto Fig Salad with Lemon, Chive and Honey Dressing

Fig season isn’t over yet, is it? My fresh figs are long gone, but I’ve still been seeing them around online so hopefully I’m not too late.

I made this salad a few weeks ago and have been meaning to post it ever since. Travel picked up for me in September and as usual the blog was the first thing I could put on the back burner for a few days. 

So here I sit with a tasty fig salad recipe to share and fig season is coming dangerously close to ending. 

The inspiration for this came from my friend Tracey. She told me about a salad she makes with bacon and figs and it got me thinking about similar combinations. 

I love prosciutto, but I have to confess. Italy totally ruined me for it.

And it wasn’t all the prosciutto I had there. I ended up having a couple incredible varieties that made even others I had there pale in comparison. So you can imagine how I now feel about what I can get Stateside without a lot of planning. No offense to anyone in the U.S. producing it, of course, but if you had what I had in Italy, you’d feel the same way. Trust me. 

So I express all that food snobery to explain that since I’m now super picky about the prosciutto I eat cold, I am still a huge fan of all varieties served crispy. It’s simple to make, much easier than bacon, in my opinion. Just warm up a skillet and lay the pieces out flat. It will crisp up in minutes because it’s so thin. Flip once one side is browned and brown the other, then chop. 

I tossed it with fresh figs for this salad, along with mixed greens. The dressing was thrown together on a whim, but it turned out pretty great. The tanginess of the lemon goes nicely with the saltiness of the prosciutto and the honey balances both flavors. 

I used a mix of sweet figs like tiger and earthier varieties like brown turkey and mission. You can really use any you enjoy most, but I personally think that sweeter figs are better for this particular salad. Plan to make it quick before fresh fig season is done for another year! 

What you’ll  need:

4 ounces sliced prosciutto
8 cups mixed greens
6 to 8 fresh figs, stemmed and chopped
2 ounces crumbled blue cheese

Dressing
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste

How to make it:

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Work in batches, and lay each slice of prosciutto flat in the skillet. Let cook 2 to 3 minutes, until it begins to brown and crisp. Flip and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer to a cutting board. Let sit until cool enough to handle and then chop. 

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large bowl. Add the greens and toss to coat. Stir in the prosciutto. Top with figs and blue cheese and then serve. 

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