Zabaglione With Poached Dried Apricots And Currants Recipes

POACHED DRIED APRICOTS AND CURRANTS WITH ZABAGLIONE

Steps:

• Bring water, wine, sugar, honey, oranges, vanilla seeds, and spices to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves, about 8 minutes.
• Add apricots and currants. Cover, and cook until apricots have softened, about 30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, reserving liquid and transferring fruit to a bowl. Simmer liquid until reduced to 1 cup, about 6 minutes. Strain syrup through fine sieve. Pour syrup over fruit. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve with zabaglione.

ZABAGLIONE WITH POACHED DRIED APRICOTS AND CURRANTS

Steps:

• Rub together sugar, zest, and vanilla seeds in a medium heatproof bowl using your fingers. Add yolks. Whisk until pale and creamy. Whisk in Vin Santo and salt. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk until mixture thickens and doubles in volume, about 10 minutes. Serve warm.

VANILLA-POACHED APRICOTS WITH ZABAGLIONE

Steps:

• Poach apricots:
• Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into a 2-quart saucepan, then add pod, water, sugar, zest, and salt. Bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat, then boil 1 minute.
• Carefully add apricots, then reduce heat and poach at a bare simmer, turning over once, until fruit is tender but still holds its shape and skins are still intact, 2 to 6 minutes. Transfer apricots and syrup to a large shallow bowl and cool to room temperature, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Make zabaglione:
• Beat together yolks, sugar, and wine in a deep 4-quart metal bowl with a handheld electric mixer at medium speed or whisk vigorously until combined well.
• Set bowl over a 4-quart pot of barely simmering water and beat mixture until tripled in volume, 5 to 6 minutes.
• To serve:
• Spoon 2 or 3 apricot halves into each of 6 glasses and top with zabaglione. Serve immediately.

PERFECT POACHED FRUIT

Steps:

• Place the vin santo, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla bean, and zests in a large, shallow saucepan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Peel the pears, leaving the stems intact, and scoop out the seeds from the bottom with an apple corer or melon baller. Lay half the pears on their sides in the poaching liquid and simmer for 20 minutes, carefully turning the pears once with a spoon. Remove with a slotted spoon. Poach the remaining pears in the same liquid. Snip off the hard stems from the figs with scissors. Add the figs, apricots, prunes, and the first batch of poached pears and simmer 5 to 10 more minutes, until the pears and the dried fruit are all tender.
• Chill the pears, dried fruit, zests, and poaching liquid. Remove the cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla bean before serving if you like.

POACHED APRICOTS

Steps:

• Wash and then soak the dried apricots in 2 cups of water overnight.
• Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees.
• Drain the apricots over a bowl. Transfer the liquid to a saucepan and add the sugar, cardamom pods, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and add the apricots. Cover the apricots with a small sheet of parchment paper. Cover the pan and poach the apricots in a 300-degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. Then let the apricots cool in their liquid; then chill.
• Just before serving, lift out the apricots to drain. Mix the yogurt and ricotta together, open each apricot and stuff it with the yogurt mixture. Place the stuffed apricots on a serving plate, spoon over a little syrup. Garnish with pistachios. Recommended drink: Camomile Tea, infused with cardamom, cinnamon and clove

POACHED PEARS IN PHYLLO OVERCOAT WITH MADEIRA ZABAGLIONE `21' CLUB

Steps:

• In a saucepan just large enough to hold pears upright in one layer simmer water, wine, sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, and chili 10 minutes to blend flavors. Peel pears, leaving stems intact, and cut a thin slice from bottom of each so pears will stand upright. Add pears to poaching liquid and simmer until tender when pierced with a sharp knife, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer pears to a plate and cool completely. Core pears from bottom, leaving stem ends intact, and pat dry.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• On a work surface brush a phyllo sheet with some melted butter and top with 2 more layers phyllo and butter in same manner. Put a pear in center of phyllo and gather phyllo up around top of pear, allowing excess to fold back and leaving stem exposed. Trim excess phyllo to about 3 inches if necessary and brush outside of phyllo with more butter. Make more wrapped pears with remaining pears, phyllo, and butter in same manner. On a baking sheet bake pears 20 minutes, or until phyllo is golden, and cool slightly. Pears in phyllo may be made 4 hours ahead and kept at room temperature.
• In a metal bowl whisk together sugar, yolks, and Madeira until combined. Set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat mixture, whisking, until frothy, pale golden, and each whisk stroke leaves a clean path. (An instant-read thermometer should register 140°F. for 3 minutes to ensure eggs are safely cooked.)
• Divide zabaglione and pears among 4 dessert plates and garnish with dried fruit.

POACHED DRIED APRICOTS IN WHITE WINE

Steps:

• Simmer apricots in the wine and sugar with cardamom seeds until soft (about 20 minutes).
• Pour apricots into a serving dish and let them sit at room temperature until ready to be eaten. Serve the apricots with mascarpone cheese and, if you like, sugar cookies.

COUSCOUS WITH DRIED APRICOTS, CURRANTS, AND PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• In each of two 3-quart saucepans bring half of water, oil, cinnamon, cumin, salt, and apricots to a boil. Stir 1 box couscous into each pan and let stand, covered, off heat 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork and transfer to 2 shallow baking pans to cool as quickly as possible. Cool couscous completely and with your fingers break up any large lumps. Couscous may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring couscous to room temperature before proceeding.
• Fluff couscous with fork again and stir in currants, pistachios, mint, and salt and pepper to taste.