{"id":290,"date":"2013-08-10T04:41:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-10T08:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2013\/08\/10\/a-new-reason"},"modified":"2015-12-15T19:11:24","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T00:11:24","slug":"a-new-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2013\/08\/a-new-reason\/","title":{"rendered":"A new reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just sat down, looked at the calendar, and noticed that it\u2019s August 9th. June is eleven months old today. On Monday, Delancey will be four years old, and on Thursday, Essex will be one. \u00a0Is this what happens when you become a firm-and-fast adult? You\u2019ve done enough stuff and crossed paths with enough people that at some point, each day comes with a birthday or anniversary<\/a>? I mean, in addition to bills and tax deadlines and increasingly tight hamstrings? In other words:\u00a0there\u2019s always a new reason to eat cake, isn\u2019t there?\u00a0 Or drink wine? \u00a0Both?<\/p>\n

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I have a very cold bottle of riesling in the refrigerator. But there is no cake here, and that is because there is no oven. \u00a0We live in a 1958 house, brown enamel appliances and knotty pine cabinets and banana-colored\u00a0formica and all, and a couple of weeks ago, the tiny, squeaky-doored Hotpoint oven up and died. No warning! Just when we had finally put aside our differences –\u00a0you say you\u2019re 400 degrees, I say you\u2019re 350<\/i>\u00a0– and reached an understanding! \u00a0There won\u2019t be cash for a proper renovation for a while yet, so Brandon went out last week and found a cheap used oven to temporarily replace it. And now we\u2019re\u00a0waiting for the Sears guy to come install it, because if we did it ourselves, it would all end\u00a0in a sudden flash of light and a cloud of smoke, and I do not mean to imply that there would be wizardry involved.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, there is no cake, but there are apricots poached in riesling and vanilla bean. (Which were supposed to be\u00a0baked<\/i> in riesling and vanilla bean, but blah blah blah\u00a0BLAH<\/i>.)<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s probably\u00a0too late in the summer to talk about apricots? Let\u2019s do it anyway. I\u2019ve made these apricots three times already this year, and I\u2019m not ready to stop. I just made them a fourth time tonight. \u00a0The recipe is a twist on two others: Nigel Slater\u2019s Baked Apricots with Lemon Tea, from Tender, Volume II<\/a><\/i> (also known as Ripe<\/a><\/i>) and my friend Jess\u2019s Sugared Apricots with Cardamom Pistachios<\/a>. Nigel\u2019s, if I may refer to him on a buddy-buddy first-name basis, calls for baking apricots in sweetened lemon verbena tea with star anise and a vanilla bean, and Jess\u2019s calls for dredging them in sugar before baking them in white wine and serving them with cardamom-dusted pistachios. I took one recipe in each hand and banged them together, and ta da<\/i>, I give you Soft Apricots with Riesling and Vanilla Bean.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the gist: take seven or eight fresh apricots, cut them in half, and press their cut sides into a saucer of sugar. It doesn\u2019t take much – just a couple of tablespoons, and you could use even less, if you prefer. Then arrange the apricot halves in a baking dish if you\u2019re baking them, or in a skillet if you\u2019re poaching them, and tuck a split vanilla bean in there, too. Pour in a good splash of riesling. Then slide them into a hot oven, or set them over a low flame, and let them stay there until their color deepens to the orange of a very good egg yolk, their flesh gets velvety, and if you pick one up in your hand, it feels heavy, slack, almost jiggly, like a slightly tired water balloon. You could eat them warm, but I like them very cold, with a spoonful of their winey syrup.<\/p>\n

I first made apricots this way last summer, and though I didn\u2019t write down the method or bookmark the recipes, when this summer came around, I remembered it, sort of, and after a couple of go-rounds and tweaks, I feel confident about sharing it. I think it might be my absolute favorite thing to do with apricots, which is saying a lot, but I\u2019m going to go ahead and write that down before I second-guess it. Either way, I\u2019m posting this not only for you, but also to record the method for myself, so that next summer, I\u2019ll be able to find it without scratching my head. And then maybe I\u2019ll be able to make it five or six times, instead of only four.<\/p>\n

P.S. \u00a0This<\/a>\u00a0will simultaneously destroy you and rebuild you (via\u00a0Youngna Park<\/a>). \u00a0Thank god for radio.
\nP.P.S. Ask, and ye shall receive:<\/p>\n

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Recipe<\/div>\n

Soft Apricots with Riesling and Vanilla Bean<\/h2>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n
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