Roasted Figs and Feta

The title says it all: Roasted Figs and Feta. There's really not too much else to say, except to drool a little, try to mop it up off your chin, and squeeze another one into your already overflowing mouth. I got the idea from my friend Nate who casually mentioned that someone at a dinner party had stuffed figs with feta cheese and brought them for an appetizer. Enough said. That is, it was enough for me. I think we probably kept chatting about something or other, but my attention was busy swimming in gooey, sweet and salty dreams and planning my evening's meal. 

This tasty treat is so simple that there is really no recipe needed. I bought about 1/4 lb dried figs from the bulk section of my local grocer and a small container of crumbled feta. I went for the stuff that was on sale because its main purpose was to add saltiness and it didn't seem like the time to splurge. I then sliced each fig lengthwise, stuffed in as much feta as would fit, and roasted them on a baking sheet in a 375F pre-heated oven for about 6 minutes. 

The photo above is from this first batch. They were VERY good. Something was missing though... the sweet was there, the salty was there, but something elusive kept flitting through my mind. A second batch was made a few days later upon my mother's arrival from Chicago. In all the excitement of getting back from the airport, the figs were forgotten in the oven and stayed in there for about 15 minutes. Now I'm not necessarily saying that you want to purposely leave them in that long, but the resulting caramelization of the fig's sugars and the slightly toasted feta was amazing! I'd say that 10-11 minutes would be just perfect.