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When the produce is coming in strong at the farmers' market here, I don't really have the heart to buy figs from "foreign" climes. But when fall arrives and our produce season pretty much comes to an end in Ann Arbor and the figs start showing up from California ... I could eat 'em every day! You can usually find them through the fall and into winter here.
When the fresh figs are finished, I make this salad using dried figs that I soak in hot water for a bit to get them to soften up (how long you have to soak for depends on the dryness of the figs). Either way, I think it's a great way to eat—it livens up my winter evenings with some really nice flavors that remind me more of the Mediterranean than Michigan in the middle of the winter. After all, I'm looking at a bunch of white snow-covered trees right now, not white sand beaches.
It's not hard to do. Start with a base of good salad greens—whatever you can get right now really. Cut a pint (or whatever you like) of fresh figs into halves or quarters depending on how big they are. If you're doing the dry ones, cut them in half too and soak in a bowl of just-boiled water for ... half an hour to a couple of hours. In a sauté pan, heat up a bit of extra-virgin olive oil. Add the figs, sprinkle on a touch of sea salt. If you like the salad sweeter (I don't) you can toss in a pinch of that same Muscovado brown sugar that goes into our butterscotch pudding.