Apricots Poached in Cinnamon & Orange
Apricot halves sit in barely moving orange juice with a cinnamon stick until they slump, and the juice reduces into syrup.
Why it works
Apricots keep their shape only if the liquid never rises above a shiver; at a rolling boil you have purée in four minutes. Poaching them in orange juice rather than sugar syrup keeps the flesh bright, and reducing that juice concentrates the fruit's own sweetness, so one spoon of honey is all it needs.
Method
- Put the orange juice, zest, cinnamon, cardamom, honey and salt in a wide sauté pan and bring to a simmer.
- Lower in the apricots cut side down in one layer and drop the heat until the surface barely trembles. Poach uncovered for 6 minutes.
- Turn each half with a spoon and give them 2 minutes more. They are ready when the skins have slipped loose at the edges and a knife tip meets no resistance, but the halves still sit up.
- Lift the fruit into a bowl with a slotted spoon. Raise the heat and boil the liquid hard for 2 minutes, until halved and coating the back of a spoon, then stir in the lemon juice and pour it over the fruit.
- Spoon the yoghurt into four bowls, add three apricot halves each with plenty of syrup, and scatter with pistachios. Serve warm or at room temperature.
For the toddler
Honey is not for a baby under one year old, and here it goes into the pan at step 1, so leave it out altogether — the orange juice reduces to plenty of sweetness on its own. Lift two halves out before the syrup boils down, let them cool, slip the loosened skins off and cut each half lengthways into quarters. Chopped pistachios are a choking risk under five, so grind them fine or leave them off.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Out of season, use 240 g soft dried apricots, 100 ml more juice and no honey; they need 12 minutes.
Use good bottled orange juice and skip the pared zest. You lose the oil in the peel but save the peeler.
Turkish coffee, or walnuts and a wedge of white cheese.
Keeps 4 days chilled and improves overnight as the syrup soaks in. Eat cold with yoghurt or over porridge.