• Recipe collection
• Baking

25 sweet and savoury ways to give a fig this season

These recipes starring fresh figs are good, just ask us.

• Quick & easy

Blistered tomato, fig and crispy pita with herb dressing

The perfect light, fuss-free meal as late summer drifts into autumn. Swap the labne (strained yoghurt) for unsweetened coconut yoghurt to make this dairy-free.

• < 30 mins
• Jessica Brook

• Baking

Bake cake and carry on: Helen Goh’s flourless fig, hazelnut and chocolate torte

Play with the fruit and nuts added into this versatile cake to make a crowd pleasing combo.

• 1-2 hrs
• Helen Goh

• Summer barbecue

Karen Martini's lamb backstrap with olive dressing, charred potatoes and figs

Rosemary and bay leaves – with, of course, olives, garlic, lemon and lashings of good olive oil – are classic companions to lamb when it comes to Mediterranean cooking, and with good reason. This dish is full of powerful flavours but there's a lovely delicacy to the backstraps, while the addition of a little sweetness from oozingly ripe figs works a treat. And those potatoes – I won't even mention how good they are.

• 30 mins - 1 hr
• Karen Martini

• Dinner party

Chicken tagine with figs and olives

Exotic saffron, feisty ginger, smoky paprika, warm cumin and sweetly scented cinnamon go into this simple tagine. Serve with cous cous and extra harissa to add to your taste.

• 1-2 hrs
• Jill Dupleix

• Baking

Honey cake with figs and whisky

Honey cakes are traditional for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. With added figs and whisky, my version may not be traditional, but it's the best honey cake I have tasted. The rye flour adds complexity, but you could also use all white flour if you prefer. When making, use an 8-cup capacity bundt cake tin with a central tube: there's a lot of liquid in the batter, and the tube adds support as it bakes and rises.

• 1-2 hrs
• Helen Goh

• Midweek dinner

Roast chicken with balsamic and honey figs

Warm, roasted figs bring a rich, seedy fruitiness to roast chicken. Supremes are skin-on breasts with half-wing attached, or you can use chicken marylands which will need another 15 minutes cooking.

• 30 mins - 1 hr
• Jill Dupleix

• Fruit desserts

Fig and frangipane slice

A recipe from the Good Food collection.

• 1-2 hrs

• Dinner party

Zabaglione with caramelised figs

This classic Italian dessert of whisked eggs, sugar and marsala is often served warm but is equally delicious at room temperature. Caramelised figs make a beautiful accompaniment, as do fresh strawberries or roasted peaches or plums.

• 30 mins - 1 hr

• Fruit desserts

Wine-roasted figs with sweet tahini yoghurt

Just as delicious with red-fleshed plums, a mix of plums and figs, or a grating of darkly bitter chocolate over the top just before heading to the table.

• < 30 mins
• Jill Dupleix