Figs with Minted Goat Cheese

One of the first fruit trees planted in the garden was a Brown Turkish fig, given to me by my dear neighbor, Mrs. Rosa Hight, who was happy to reduce her volunteer population. The leaves are beautiful and I enjoy using them on cheese plates, but I can't manage to ever get a ripe fig from it. That makes the first ripe figs of the season very important to me, at least I get to taste a few.

This recipe is very simple and I put it together after looking at a British cookbook by Jennifer Joyce called Small Plates. She had mixed goat cheese with a full mint leaf. The figs must be fully ripe and sweet for this to taste really good. I decided to chop the mint into the goat cheese and add a bit of milk to thin the texture and make it a bit softer. Instead of spooning the cheese on, the next time I make these I'll be thinning out the cheese a bit more and piping it onto the figs.