Ripe figs
Sugar
Put about a dozen whole ripe green figs in a gratin dish and sprinkle with 2-3 tbs sugar and 1-2 tbs water. Put the dish in a fairly hot oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved and the figs are surrounded by a pale pink syrup. You can eat them straight away, but we found they were better chilled, with (in order of preference) mascarpone, creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.