Lukewarm chicory salad with fresh roasted figs

Side dishes for autumn. This chicory salad with lukewarm caramelized fresh figs suits any autumn menu. We roast the onion and fresh figs in the oven. The balsamic vinegar provides an acidic contrast, and the brown sugar accompanies them with a delicious caramel flavor. Together with the tender and crispy chicory, this is the tastiest side dish you can imagine.

How to make lukewarm chicory salad with fresh figs

This chicory salad with lukewarm roasted fresh figs is not only tasty, but also very quick to prepare. You don't need more than 20 minutes.

We preheat the oven to 200°C and prepare a baking tray with baking paper. We will first roast and caramelize the fresh figs and onions in a few minutes time.

First we remove the skin from the onion, halve it and cut it into rings. We already put the onions stripes on the baking tray.

Then we halve the fresh figs. And we also cut them into slices of about half to one centimeter. They then go on the baking tray with the onions. We mix both sometimes.

Next we sprinkle the onion and figs with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Mix everything together well.

Then the mixture is ready to go in the oven for ten minutes. The sugar will now caramelize, just like the onion. This creates a delicious sweet and sour flavor combination with the balsamic vinegar and the figs.

In the meantime, we coarsely chop the pistachios. After ten minutes they go into the oven for about five minutes, that are sweet and tender.

Finally, we also finely chop the chicory. To do this we cut away the hard stump. Then we halve the chicory lengthwise. Finally, we cut the chicory into thin rings.

When the roasted and caramelized figs are ready, we mix them with the chicory. This salad is lukewarm at its best: the fresh and crispy chicory accompanied by the sour-sweet lukewarm caramelized figs and onion.

Chicory or Belgian endive?

Chicories are often also referred to as Belgian endives. But there are also a lot of other names for similar varieties. But be sure, we are talking here about “witloof” (white leaf), the Flemish name for the white shoots from the chicory root. And indeed, they were discovered in Belgium. By accident.

It was around 1830 when a farmer in the surroundings of Brussels had stored chicory roots for coffee in a dark cellar. But the roots had produced white shoots in the dark. They tasted delicious! So farmers started to cultivate them and served them as a side in restaurants. People loved them, and so the white Belgian endives started to conquer the culinary world. The key is that they grow in the dark. This way they remain extremely tender, and bitterness is missing completely. But if you leave them for a few days, they might start turning green, and develop a more bitter taste.

Read more about Belgian endives in the following articles:

More surprising.endives

Belgian endives, or chicory is by far the favorite lettuce of the whole family. My father used to grow them in a dark cellar. During autumn, we ate them in every possible way. So no surprise that we have some more surprising.endives here:

More surprising.figs

Sweet figs are one of the most delicious autumn fruits. And nowadays they are readily available in autumn. So make sure to buy some more to make some additional recipes:

If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.