Arugula, Plum, Fig, and Ricotta Salad with Plum-Shallot Dressing

A Recipe from Laurence Hauben of Santa Barbara

Happy Friday! This week, I wanted to take advantage of the overlap between plum and fig season to re-share the gorgeous recipe that Laurence Hauben gave us two summers ago. This stunner embodies Laurence’s French-Californian cooking style—if you didn’t get a chance to read about her upbringing in Northern France and how she came to California by posting an add looking for work as an au pair, make sure to check it out!

Arugula, Plum, Fig, and Ricotta Salad with Plum-Shallot Dressing

This is a seasonal salad that Laurence whipped up, with the ingredients she had in her kitchen, just a couple weeks ago. It’s fantastic as it’s written, but Laurence likes to emphasize that you should use what you have in your kitchen, and experiment, rather than always following recipes. The thing I love most about this dish is that it has a phenomenal salad dressing that uses plums as the acid component, which give the salad a lot of added flavor. Laurence also makes her own ricotta, because it’s very simple to do; there’s a recipe below. A good quality ricotta like Bellwether’s will also work well.

Serves 6

6 cups arugula
1 pound Santa Rosa Plums (or similar)
6 ripe figs
3 tablespoons minced shallot
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons minced parsley or basil
1 ½ cups fresh ricotta (see recipe below)
½ cup crushed roasted pistachios

1. Wash and drain the arugula.

2. Make a plum puree: Pit ½ pound of the plums and place them in a covered saucepan over medium heat until they soften, about 8 minutes. Place the softened plums in a blender and process until smooth.

3. Place the shallots and olive oil in a small saucepan and sauté until the shallots are golden.

4. Transfer ½ cup of plum puree to a bowl and season with a scant teaspoon of salt and a few turns of pepper. Whisk in the olive oil-shallot mix, then add the parsley or basil. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

5. Slice the remaining plums and your figs. (I like to slice my plums so they look like flower petals and cut the figs in 6 wedges.)

6. Dress the arugula, then mound it on plates and sprinkle it with the crushed pistachios.

7. Scoop ¼ cup ricotta into the center of each plate. Surround it with the plum slices and fig wedges.

8. Spoon a little additional dressing on the salad and serve.

Homemade Ricotta

Make ~2 cups

5 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt

1. Set a large sieve lined with a damp flour-sack towel or two layers of damp cheesecloth over a bowl.

2. In a saucepan, heat the milk and cream to a boil.

3. Add the lemon juice, reduce the heat, and stir for a couple of minutes, until the milk curdles.

4. Turn off the heat, add the salt, and let the mixture rest for 10 minutes.

5. Strain the mixture; the whey will be in the bottom of the bowl, and the ricotta will be in the cheesecloth.

6. Use right away, or refrigerate. Ricotta is best eaten within 24 to 48 hours.

Other California Recipes to Cook

Tomatero’s Early Girl tomatoes are finally on the market (they were very late this year!), so all this week I’ll be taking a note from the famous tomato toast at Berkeley’s Bartavelle and eating them on hearty toast with some aioli or Kewpie mayo and a scattering of cilantro leaves (and flowers, since my plants are bolting). I’m also going to try the gorgeous basil-melon salad the SF Chronicle shared today, the zoodles with meatballs that Bay Area-based recipe developer Christine Gallary recently re-posted for the Kitchn, and the tomato tart with roasted garlic that Edible Marin & Wine Country posted earlier this summer.

Photos: Georgia Freedman