Figgy Goodness

I heart figs. Ever since I had to prepare them as part of a five-course while I was working garde manger at a NYC three-star resto ... sliced in half, topped with a goat cheese, nut and Indian spice crumble. These tempting little fruits were not a part of my childhood—OK, yeah, who hasn't had a fig newton, but whole? Not a chance. So it's no wonder that my dad, then mom and finally my sister asked me, truly baffled: "How do you eat them? Do you have to peel the skin off first?" To which I responded, all you gotta do is trim off the stem and pop the sucker into your mouth. You can eat it as is, or serve it in a salad or with cheeses like goat and blue. Roasting them with a suckling pig would also be faboo. (My sister and I had this rendition when we were in Barcelona.) The ones you see here were plucked off the branches of my dad's little tree, which he planted just a few months ago in his backyard. No they're not quite ready to eat, but they're still so tantalizing and pleasing to the eye, dontcha think?