Fresh Figs with Goat Cheese and Peppered Honey

Recipe Find!

I had some of this at my favorite French Bistro, the Cafe Divine, on Washington Square Park in San Francisco.

From Epicurious.com:

I was recommended having this appetizer along with gazpacho and some crusty bread on a hot night.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

12 fresh figs

1/4 cup soft fresh goat cheese

1. Combine honey and pepper in small pitcher; you may need to melt the honey a little to blend.

2. Starting at stem end, cut each fig into quarters, stopping 1/2 inch from bottom to leave base intact. Gently press figs open.

3. Spoon 1 teaspoon cheese into center of each. Arrange figs on platter; drizzle with peppered honey.

This magical cafe has large scale artwork and jazz music, great french pastries and an amiable atmosphere. Outside, a large park fronts a gorgeous chapel in the heart of San Francisco's North Beach Italian neighborhood. The park is a restful haven, full of running doggies and small babies playing underneath windswept pine and eucalyptus trees.

The weather today is a perfect Mediterranean, moist and breezy, warm with overcast clouds.