Harissa Spiced Fig, Merguez, and Almond Salad

We love a good salad, and are always looking for a good salad cookbook to give us inspiration. Salmagundi: A Celebration of Salads from around the World by Sally Butchec has wonderful salad recipes from a variety of cuisines! This recipe for a spiced fig salad, which comes from the book, artfully combining sweet and spicy flavors in a spice-infused honey for predictably delicious results.

From the Author: "This is a rather special salad. Actually, figs have the capacity to render pretty much anything special: their appearance is lush for starters - they have but to lie down on a plate or pose in a fruit bowl and they steal the show. They are also feted for their aphrodisiac properties: yup - they are the all-around floozy of the fruit world."

Ingredients

For a Salad for Two:

1/2 teaspoon European Coriander Seed, ground
1/2 teaspoon Cumin Seed, ground
1/4 teaspoon Smoked Sweet Paprika
pinch of Caraway Seed
pinch of India Red Chile Flake
1/2 teaspoon dried Spearmint
pinch of Kosher Salt Diamond Crystal
3 teaspoon runny honey
6 fresh figs
6 merguez sausages (or Spanish chorizo)
smidge of oil
1/3 cup / 1-1/4 oz / 35g slivered almonds
1 3/4 oz / 50 g dark green salad leaves
handful of frisee (curly endive) lettuce

For the Dressing:

2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon orange flower water
1/2 teaspoon Harissa, ground
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Kosher Salt Diamond Crystal

Directions

Preheat the broiler. Mix the spices, mint, and salt with the honey. Make a cut through each fig from the top to within a few millimeters of the base, followed by another at right angles to the first cut, so that you effectively end up with a cross cut through the top of the fruit. Pinch the 4 quarters created by the incisions so that the fig opens up like a flower, and divide the spiced honey between the figs. Broil them for around 1-1/2 minutes until the fruit starts to sizzle. Turn the oven off, but leave the figs sitting there to retain their heat.

Slice the merguez on the diagonal into 1/2 in / 1 cm thick oval slices. Heat a teeny bit of oil in a pan and cook the sausage for around 3 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon. Toast the almonds in the same pan for a minute or so until they start to color.

Toss the greens in a bowl. Whisk the ingredients for the dressing together. Arrange the figs on top of the salad, and scatter with merguez and almonds. Drizzle with the dressing and serve with crusty bread.