This is a dish I made for our special Friday dinners at Quinta Vale da Lama, a permaculture farm in Portugal. A friend was helping me out this time and I really needed it. I had planned a few dishes I’d never done before and they usually need some adjustments here and there. In total there were two cakes, a half-frozen dessert and about five dishes. This was one of them. When my friend got home, he asked me for the recipe and sent me the picture of their family dinner : )
As you might already know, I love fruity dishes as a starter. In June, two of the apricot trees started ripening their fruits. I was delighted! There weren’t many fruits around other than physalis and store-bought poor-quality apples and oranges. So I wanted to give the apricots a big welcoming hug with a recipe : )
Flavour Development
Instantly, the combination of apricot and reduced white wine got me excited. It needed something with a creamy texture. I wanted to work with local products mainly. I opted out for almond butter. Almonds and apricots are two foods that are closely related anyway. One has been cultured for the fruit and the other for the kernel. Here, we have a nice pairing already but it needs some groundedness which at the same time follows the bright notes of the fresh apricot. Onions. They come with notorious umami and are bright in flavour. We can even tune them with white wine. Right, looking pretty welcoming so far for the apricots.
Finish
Let’s blend some of them (preferably some that are not very ripe for acidity), kiss them with black tea leaves and top with rosemary. Salt, to let the flavour glisten and you know what? We could be done now, this works already. However, for lovers of fermentation, I’d like to mention the option of adding just a bit of Sauerkraut with a little syrup or honey to add another angle of acidity. Let’s go!
Serves 2. Prep time: 30 min
INGREDIENTS
2 small onions, sliced into crescents
1/4 cup almond butter
1/2 cup white wine
10 apricots, halved and pitted
1/2 tsp black tea leaves
5 dried apricots or 3 tbsp syrup (date for example)/honey
salt, preferably coarse
rosemary
optional: 2 tsp Sauerkraut with a kiss of syrup/honey
METHOD
Bake the onions in the oven at 180°C for 20 min. After 10 min, add a glass of white wine on top of the onions. Alternatively, sauté the onions in a pan and add the white wine. Strain and combine the remaining white wine with the almond butter and put it aside. Mix the apricots with the black tea leaves and the dried apricots or honey/syrup in a blender. Cut the apricots into crescents. One half can give about 5 crescents. Add some salt and put the apricot sauce aside. Take the onions out of the oven. Combine them with the apricots, salt and apricot sauce. Place this mixture on a plate, top with some chopped rosemary and Sauerkraut. Enjoy!
Did you like this recipe? Then you’ll like this one, too : )