This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Cal Poly chapter.
One disadvantage of living on the west coast is the lack of true seasons. One advantage of living on the west coast is the bountiful harvest of seasonal produce despite this lack of true seasons. California is blessed with such agricultural diversity especially when autumn rolls around. Today I present to you a fabulously simple tartine recipe highlighting the queen of early fall fruits: the fig. (If you don’t know what Higuera is Spanish for, look it up!)
Ingredients
- 1 French-style bread loaf
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups ricotta (do this step at home here!)
- 1⁄4 cup + 2 tablespoons dark honey
- 3 tablespoons salted roasted pistachios, crushed
- 6 figs, sliced
Procedure
1. Slice the crusty loaf into 1/2” slices and lay them flat on a baking sheet. Drizzle both sides with olive oil and pop them into the oven at 325 °C for a few minutes or until they brown up
ever so lightly.
2. In a bowl, fold 1⁄4 cup honey into the ricotta. Don’t over stir or else you’ll end up with liquid ricotta. I find that a darker honey gives this tartine a rich flavor profile that light honey simply can’t match. Be sure to use a higher quality honey because it is the primary sweetening agent, and it will definitely stand out because of the folding technique.
3. Remove bread slices from oven and allow them to cool.
4. Once cooled, slab ricotta on only one side of each bread slice and layer with sliced figs.
5. Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons of honey over all of the tartines.
6. Sprinkle pistachios overtop. Salty foods work excellent with figs, so you can use any salty nut ofyour choice. I chose pistachios because they pack a great meatiness and an even greater color.
You can serve this alongside a light sparkling cider as an appetizer or as a side dish for any fall occasion. It does double duty and it does it well. À la vôtre!