Fig Avocado Salad
“The Flavor Matrix” is a book that combined a team of IBM’s Watson with an award winning chef lab that worked for years, culminating in discovering new pairings of foods resulting in novel flavors. This is one of those: who doesn’t love figs and avocados? Ingredients:
3 dried figs – finely chopped
1 cup water
2 cups rice vinegar
1 cup arugula (or your favorite lettuce)
1 ripe avocado
2 Tbs Tuxedo sesame seeds – toasted
1 Tbs Extra virgin olive oil (we like the mild flavor of Olivares De Barahonda)
Cocoa Chile Rub
Splash lime juice
Directions:
- Simmer figs and water in small saucepan until pot looks dry, then add rice vinegar. Allow to simmer, then remove from heat to infuse for 30 min.
- Mash figs with a fork, then pass through a sieve and save the fig vinegar in a Mason jar in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- To prepare salad, cut avocado into wedges then sprinkle with lime juice and cover in cocoa chile rub then sesame seeds.
- Place on bed of lettuce and drizzle with fig vinegar.
Written by: Dr. Terra Caudill Photo Credit: Dr. Terra Caudill
Original Recipe: Sesame Seed and Avocado Salad with Fig Vinegar from “The Flavor Matrix” by James Briscione