FIGGY FIGARY: try them with Parma ham, with game, or with just with yoghurt.
The late summer sun was still warm enough to warrant seeking shade when I stopped by the roadside in Italy a few weeks ago. I was having an afternoon off from teaching at a cookery school in Umbria. The shade came from a fig tree, and as I consulted the map, my companion reached for the figs. First one, then another and another. They were perfect - warm, rich, nutty and sweet.
That evening we had figs on the menu. It's not often I get to start a recipe by saying, "If you step outside you'll find your main ingredient on the tree", but so it was with the figs.
Gathering them took the students some time, however. I suspect they adopted the pick-one-eat-one approach. But eventually the bowl was full of perfect specimens, glistening, ripe and sweet.
For breakfast, I slice figs over a bowl of muesli and yoghurt. At lunch time I eat them straight from the bowl, alongside a tablet or two of Valrhona chocolate.
In the evening I might have the classic combination of figs and Parma ham, or figs cooked alongside game - partridge is particularly good. For pudding, I return again and again to grilled figs.
Recipe serves 4
GRILLED FIGS, HONEY AND SPICED GOAT'S CHEESE MASCARPONE
8 figs
caster sugar
4 tbsp mascarpone
75g fresh goat's cheese (skin removed)
1 vanilla pod
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp double cream
Cut the figs in a cross from the top almost to the bottom and open out like a flower. Dust with caster sugar and grill until they are golden and bubbling. Meanwhile split the vanilla pod and remove the seeds. Mix the seeds and cinnamon with both cheeses and the cream and beat to a smooth finish. Serve the figs with the goat's cheese mascarpone.