Sunday Recipe: Fresh Ricotta Toast with Figs, Lemon and Honey

Figs everywhere! You can find them in all supermarkets, farmers markets and if you one of the lucky ones living in Spain, Italy or the South of France, you might even have them right in front of  your garden.

I love figs, because they’re such a versatile ingredient. You can eat them just plain, put them in sweet or savoury tarts, eat with cheese, make jams from them, cook them with stews and meat or simply dry them.

I discovered figs for myself during my Erasmus year in Barcelona, when Jessi and I used to buy a kilo of them at the Boqueria market for 3 Euro. Yes!! 3 Euro, but only at one stand in the back of the market just off the Ramblas, where all produce had reasonable prices. Here in Brussels I now found a spot where I get them for 6 Euros per kilo, which is still very cheap, compared to super-market prices.

With Jessi, we simply threw them raw, quartered, in a bowl, together with some walnuts, goat cheese, lambs lettuce and a dressing from lemon, honey, olive oil, salt, pepper and some balsamic vinegar. Done.

This time, I decided to make toasted sourdough slices, top them with fresh ricotta from my local market that I mix with lemon zest, salt, and olive oil, add a bunch of figs, drizzle some honey on top that I brought from Georgia and garnish with some fresh thyme leaves. It’s so simple, but so good and can be eaten as breakfast, light lunch or starter during dinner. Absolutely love it!!

Ingredients (Serves 4 as starter, or 2 as light lunch):

• 4 slices of sourdough bread, toasted
• 4 tsp of olive oil, plus 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 350g fresh Ricotta,
• 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes
• 1 tsp (bio) lemon zest
• 8 very ripe figs
• 3 tsp honey, melted in a pan with a thyme spring
• 1 spring of thyme
• some freshly ground pepper and sea salt flakes

Preparation:

1. Drizzle 1 tsp olive oil over each piece of bread and set aside.

1. Mix the ricotta with 2 tbsp of olive oil, sea salt flakes and lemon zest and mix well. Spread even amount onto toasts. The ricotta doesn’t have to be flat and even on the toasts, it looks nice if they all are unevenly covered with the fresh cheese.

1. Cut some figs in half and some in quarters and distribute on toasts, with the red side up. Drizzle the melted honey evenly on top of the figs, sprinkle with salt, pepper and some fresh thyme leaves. Serve immediately.