It’s mid-June, who would have thought? Lime trees bloomed, asparagus said goodbye, as did early cherry varieties. But no big deal, in addition to later cherry varieties, homegrown young potatoes, green beans and – sweet yellow apricots – are now in the foreground! In the warmer parts of our country, for example in the Vipava valley, where they ripen from the beginning of June to the last quarter of July, now is the time to ripen apricots, in the north we will sweeten with the locals a little later.
Apricots are considered extremely healthy, you’ve probably heard of the Pakistani Hunza, who arguably consume the most apricots in the world per capita. It is an interesting people, whose representatives, still unaware of the diseases that plague Western civilization, usually live to a very old age, and centenarians are a very common phenomenon among them. Scientists studying their phenomenon are currently the only ones to thank apricots, or almond-flavored pits contained in apricot pits, when pounded with a hammer in the sun. They contain a lot of vitamin B.17 or amygdalin, which has been shown to inhibit the development of cancer cells. These cores can be used for many things, but it’s true that they’re a bit harder to come by in larger quantities. They can be used in any dish that would otherwise use almonds or other nuts, and they also make a wonderful filling for štrukelj or potica. They can be used savory, for example by preparing a Genoa pesto with fruit, basil leaves, hard cheese and olive oil, which goes well with pasta.
Of course, wonderful things can be prepared from the fruit, from various cakes and wraps and biscuits to dumplings with potato or quark dough, compote, jam, liqueur and more. If you have an abundance of apricots, you’re probably thinking about making jam. This can be eaten in a thousand ways, not just spread on a piece of bread with butter, in a pancake or in a carnival donut at the end of next winter. You can use it to spread out sourdough puff pastry more generously and roll it up and bake it – that’s how you get Ljubljana štrukelj. If we spread real chocolate cake with apricot jam, we get something like the famous Viennese Sachertorte. Fresh apricots go great with pistachios or almonds (or apricot kernels).
Perhaps try something completely different, fresh, as dictated by this master recipe. And don’t forget to chill your drinks in time to make your lunch really perfect.
Ingredients for 8 servings
750 g pitted apricots
1dl olive oil
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
1 head of firm lettuce
1 young red onion
250 g mozzarella or burat
125 g sliced ham
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
sea-salt
freshly ground pepper
preparation
1. Clean the ants well, wash, cut in half and remove the stones (which can be dried on a windowsill). Prepare the grill or heat the pan properly. Brush the halved apricots with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake them on high heat, cut part down, just long enough to lightly bake (as in photo), about 5 minutes. Set them aside and let them cool.
2. During this time, wash, peel and fry the lettuce so that it becomes as firm and crispy as possible. Peel an onion and cut into thin slices. Mix the lemon juice well with the remaining (approx. 0.6 dl) oil in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the roasted apricots, sliced onion and shredded lettuce and mix very gently.
3. Place the lettuce on plates and top with balls or slices of young mozzarella or burata (which is an even better choice), dividing the thinly sliced rolls or mounds in between. Drizzle with thick balsamic vinegar or with the highest quality extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately, and in addition to a suitably chilled fine wine or even an “Aperol spritzer”, sparkling wine is also a real treat.
Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes
We need it
1 kg of ripe tomatoes
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 dl teran
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 bunch of parsley
1 handful of rice
sea salt, olive oil.
preparation
Chop the onion and glaze in olive oil in a large saucepan. Meanwhile, mince the garlic and add at the end of the roast, just enough to simmer. Add the wine and when it boils a little, add the chopped tomatoes, the concentrate and 3 dl of water. When it boils, simmer for 15 minutes and season to taste; also add half the chopped parsley and add a little water if it seems too thick. Finally, stir in the washed rice and cook slowly to soften the teeth. Set aside and leave covered until rice is completely tender, then sprinkle with remaining chopped parsley and serve.
We need it
4 ripe bananas
12 scoops of ice cream (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry)
2.5 dl whipped cream
4 candied cherries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
60 g flaked almonds
1 dl chocolate glaze
preparation
whip cream. Peel and halve a banana lengthways and divide into plates. Immediately sprinkle them with lemon juice. Put a scoop of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream between the two halves of the banana and drizzle with chocolate frosting. Sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds and top with whipped sweet cream (which can be drizzled with thin streams of honey or with chilled chocolate liqueur) and candied cherries.
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