Little Tin Shed at Medowie is harvesting figs

Fig season is in full swing and farmers at the Little Tin Shed in Medowie have many kilograms of them to sell from their farm stall.

And, at $12 a kilogram they point out that it's a lot cheaper than the supermarket - and the product is so much fresher too.

But once you have the figs home, what should you do with them?

Slow Food Hunter Valley's Helen Hughes, and her talented dessert friend Pauline, recommend their black fig tart with artichoke cream and baby rocket and also their black fig mille feuille with fig leaf and honey ice cream.

The first is savoury, the second is sweet.

"For the savoury tart, use your favourite shortcrust pastry to make small tart cases. Fill them with artichoke cream and top with quartered figs and lightly dressed rocket," Ms Hughes said.

To make the artichoke cream you will need a 280 gram jar of drained artichoke hearts, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and 1teaspoon thyme.

"Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, then season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper," Ms Hughes said.

For the pastry, use 1 sheet of butter puff pastry.

"Cut the sheet in quarters, then place the 4 pieces on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Top with another sheet of baking paper, then place a heavy oven tray on top and bake at 200 degrees celsius for 15 minutes or until golden," Ms Hughes said.

For the sweet tart, start with the same puff pastry instructions above. Then top with pastry cream, sliced fresh figs and a second square of pastry.

They use David Lebovitz's recipe for fig leaf and honey ice cream and Nicolas Poelaert's recipe for the cream. Both are available online.

"Dust with icing sugar and add a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of caramel. Garnish with a caramelised fig half (dip fig halves in caster sugar and use a kitchen blow torch to caramelise or place face down in a hot non-stick pan until golden)," Ms Hughes said.

"We love to see what you are cooking with your fresh summer produce so please feel free to share your favourite recipes and food pictures with us."