Fresh seasonal figs are the star of this fig salad recipe with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and chicken with a balsamic glaze dressing. While you’ll see this Mediterranean salad made with spiced stewed figs, if you’ve got juicy fresh figs the last thing you want to do is cook them. Serve this versatile fig salad on its own as a light meal or as an appetiser or side salad as part of a Mediterranean feast.
The best figs I’ve ever tasted were plucked from a tree in the front yard of our hospitable driver in Southern Lebanon’s beautiful, ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. I’ll never forget biting into the plump, warm, sun-kissed fig he handed to me, the sticky juices of the sweet, luscious fruit dripping down my chin and wrist. It was a revelation.
It’s hard to beat a plate of fresh sweet figs served with a soft white cheese and slices of salty cured ham, and this easy fig salad with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and chicken, dressed with a balsamic glaze, is essentially a more elaborate and more filling version of that fantastic snack that screams summer in the Mediterranean.
This fig salad recipe is next in my series of recipes for the salads I’ve had on rotation here in Australia, including this Italian melon, buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto salad (a fancier version of prosciutto e melone, the classic aperitivo snack and appetiser from Italy), my Med style chicken salad with spring vegetables and a garlicky lemony Middle Eastern dressing, this refreshing Greek watermelon feta salad with fresh mint and dill, and my persimmon salad with bocconcini, pepitas and cranberries.
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Fig Salad with Prosciutto, Buffalo Mozzarella, Chicken and Balsamic Dressing
I’ve been eating figs all summer here in Australia, and while I adore the fruit that’s native to Syria, and was introduced to the rest of the world by Phoenician caravans plying the Silk Road trade routes, I’m yet to find figs in Australia that match the flavour and juicy texture of those we tasted at our driver’s home in Tyre all those years ago.
That’s no surprise, as figs are a specialty of the ancient Phoenician port city of Tyre, which the Lebanese call Sour. Almost every household has a fig tree in their yard and figs are harvested in villages right across Southern Lebanon. There are many fig varieties and the figs grown around Tyre are considered to be the finest – according to our Tyre-born driver, anyway!
In Lebanon and Syria, figs are eaten fresh, figs are preserved – you’ll spot figs being dried in the sun outside homes at the end of summer – and figs made into fig jam. Figs are also poached in spices and spooned over fresh white cheeses or savoured with fresh cream as a dessert.
You’ll adore this fig salad with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and chicken, drizzled with a fig balsamic glaze, if you’re a lover of figs, white cheeses and salt cured meats. Chicken might seem like an odd addition to this quintessential Mediterranean combination but it works, making for a more filling meal of a salad.
Figs, mozzarella and prosciutto are a classic Italian ingredient match, dating to ancient times, but I’m calling this Mediterranean because you’ll also find the fantastic combo of figs and white cheese in Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon and Syria – although, of course, without prosciutto.
That’s not to say that the Middle East doesn’t make cured meats. While both Lebanon and Syria have Christians, due to a larger Islamic population that doesn’t eat pork, charcuterie tends to be imported from Europe or made locally with beef, chicken and turkey – something we couldn’t quite get used to during our many years living in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Delis in the Middle East sell everything from chicken and turkey ‘mortadella’ to salamis produced with beef. Although if you get to Beirut, you need to get to the Armenian neighbourhood of Bourj Hammoud to try the Armenian specialty of basturma, a divine air-dried beef coated in spices. And one of Terence’s favourite Lebanese specialties and places.
Now let me share a few tips to making this fig salad with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and chicken with a balsamic glaze dressing.
Tips to Making this Fig Salad with Prosciutto, Buffalo Mozzarella, Chicken and Balsamic
I only have a few tips to making this fig salad with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and chicken with a balsamic glaze dressing, as it’s another quick and easy salad that comes together quickly.
The Figs
If you’re buying your figs from a fruit shop, make sure to ask for the freshest juiciest figs. If you’re buying them from a supermarket, good luck. A few times I had a real mix of figs in the packaged containers I purchased, including a combination of fresh luscious figs and very dry figs that I ended up poaching in spices. Recipe coming soon.
The Prosciutto
If you don’t eat a lot of Italian prosciutto, you’ll need to buy prosciutto crudo or raw cured ham, not prosciutto cotto, cooked ham. As usual, try to buy the best quality prosciutto that you can source and afford, as it really makes a difference.
But of course you could use a Spanish cured ham instead, such as jamon Serrano or jamon Iberico, both of which are absolutely heavenly. Same rule applies, buy the best quality jamon you can find and afford.
The Mozzarella
I adore Italian buffalo mozzarella in this salad but we also get an outstanding Australian buffalo mozzarella that I’ve been using. Delicious alternatives are fior di latte, fresh mozzarella made from cow’s milk; and bocconcini, another type of fresh mozzarella, made from buffalo milk and cow’s milk, which come in smaller spongier balls.
But other white cheeses are also wonderful in this salad. I’ve used a soft Persian feta, which is fantastic. But take care with what kind of feta you buy, as you don’t want a salty feta as the salt comes from the cured meats. You’re better off with a plainer, creamier white cheese.
The Chicken
As with my springtime chicken salad, I included chicken in this fig salad partly to use up leftover rotisserie chicken, but of course you could poach chicken breasts. Terence has great tips to poaching chicken breasts in this post on our best poached chicken breast recipes.
An important tip: make sure to use a digital kitchen meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken breasts. You need to poke the thermometer into the thickest parts of the chicken breasts and when it reaches 74°C/ 165˚F you can safely remove the chicken breasts.
The Dressing
I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of balsamic dressings, from a homemade balsamic glaze (recipe coming soon, but it’s a cinch to make and is just a matter of reducing balsamic vinegar) to an addictively delicious store-bought fig balsamic glaze from Aldi. I’m also very happy drizzling on a good extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar from Modena. This classic salad vinaigrette is also delish.
Assemble the Salad
To assemble the salad, spread the roca or rucola leaves out on a serving plate, arrange the fresh figs, buffalo mozzarella slices, coils of prosciutto, and chicken breast slices on top, drizzle on the extra virgin olive oil and fig balsamic glaze, grind on some cracked black pepper, and garnish with fresh basil leaves.
Serving the Salad
I like to plonk this fig salad at the centre of the table so guests can help themselves. Like most salads, I serve it with crusty bread or warm sesame-sprinkled Turkish bread, but back home in Cambodia with Terence, we’d be enjoying this with his home-baked sourdough, which I look forward to doing again very soon. Enjoy!
Fig Salad with Prosciutto, Buffalo Mozzarella, Chicken and Balsamic
Ingredients
- 2 cups baby rucola leaves - also called roca, rocket and arugula
- 4 fresh figs - cut into quarters
- 2 buffalo mozzarella balls - drained, sliced into quarters
- 1 large chicken breast - sliced, from leftover rotisserie chicken or poached chicken,
- 80 g prosciutto - thin slices, around 8 pieces
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp fig balsamic glaze
- ½ tsp cracked black pepper
- To garnish: fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Assemble the salad: spread the baby rucola leaves out on a serving plate, and arrange the fresh figs, buffalo mozzarella slices, coils of prosciutto, and chicken breast slices on top.
- Drizzle the extra virgin olive oil over the salad, especially over the fresh buffalo mozzarella, followed by generous drizzles of fig balsamic glaze. Grind on some cracked black pepper and garnish with fresh basil leaves.
- Distribute the salad between plates or serve the salad at the centre of the table with sea salt and cracked black pepper, and bottles of extra virgin olive oil and fig balsamic glaze so guests can help themselves.
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make this fig salad with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and chicken with a balsamic glaze dressing, as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
