What else should I do with figs and arugula?

When I was a kid, figs were these mystical food things that only came wrapped in a soft cookie blanket.  They tasted sweet, caramel-like, but had a somewhat off-putting grittiness thanks to their seeds.  I knew they were fruits of some sort, but had no idea what one in its naked form would look like.

Fast forward a few years, and I'm a young adult becoming increasingly interested in cooking and food in general.  I stumble across dried figs in the bulk section of the market and try some.  They basically taste like a drier, less sweet version of the Fig Newton filling.  A few more years later into my culinary exploration and I see fresh figs being used as an ingredient.  I was of course extremely intrigued, but couldn't find these things at my local market.

Last month I was shopping at the Super Walmart of all places, and stumbled upon a crate full of fresh figs.  I was ready to buy a few containers until I took a closer look - they were all mashed and rotten looking.  I left the store determined to find them elsewhere.  After striking out at a few likely places - Honest Weight food coop and Green Grocer in Halfmoon - I found them at the new Fresh Market in Latham.  I quickly bought a container, and ate two in the car ride home.

A fresh fig tastes nothing like the fig flavor you get in a dried fig or fig cookie.  It's analogous to the difference between a grape and a raisin.  The fresh fig tastes like a little water balloon of mild sugary sweetness, and has the texture of an overripe kiwi, or a plum without any hint of sourness.  Delicious.

So now that I had my partially eaten container of figs, what was I to do with them?  Since I also picked up arugula, goat cheese and pizza dough I decided to make a pizza.

Here's the recipe:

Fresh fig and goat cheese pizza

Ingredients:

1/2 portion Whole wheat pizza dough (store bought)
6 fresh black mission figs, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons goat cheese
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
kosher salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper
1 cup baby arugula
Fresh shaved parmigiano-reggiano cheese (use a vegetable peeler to get thin slivers of the cheese)

Preheat oven, preferably with a pizza stone set at the lowest rack, at 500 degrees.

Roll and stretch the dough into a pizza shape on a lightly floured work surface.  Lightly dust a rimless cookie sheet (or pizza peel if you have one).  Move the shaped dough to the cookie sheet.

Mix the goat cheese, ricotta, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper together in a small bowl.  Drizzle the dough with the remaining  olive oil, then spread the goat cheese mixture like it was a tomato sauce.

Add the sliced figs, and arrange them kinda like they are pepperoni.  Bake the pizza for 5 minutes, until the dough starts to brown slightly.  Carefully add the arugula to the partially-baked pizza, and cook for an additional 2 minutes until done.  Remove the pizza and scatter some parmigiano atop prior to slicing.