We are in the middle of June, who would have thought. The lime trees have flowered, the asparagus have said goodbye, the same goes for the early varieties of cherries. But that’s okay, plus later varieties of cherries, home-grown young potatoes, green beans and sweet yellow apricots are now featured! Right now is the time to ripen apricots in the warmer regions of our country, for example, in the Vipava Valley, where they ripen from the beginning of June to the last quarter of July, in the north we will sweeten with the premises later.
Apricots are considered extremely healthy, you’ve probably heard of the Pakistani Hunza people, who arguably consume the most apricots in the world per capita. This is an interesting people, its representatives, who still do not know the diseases that afflict Western civilization, usually reach a very old age, and centenarians are a very common phenomenon among them. Scientists studying their phenomenon are currently the only ones to thank the almond-flavored apricots or kernels, found in apricot kernels, if hammered 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 is true that they are a little more difficult to obtain in larger quantities. They can be used for any dish that would otherwise use almonds or other nuts, and they also make a wonderful garnish for štrukelj or potica. They can be used in a savory way, for example by preparing a pesto in the shape of a sponge cake made from fruit, basil leaves, hard cheese and olive oil, which goes extremely well with pasta.
From fruits, of course, it is possible to cook miracles of things, from a variety of pies and wraps and dumpling cookies with potato or cottage cheese dough, compote, jam, liqueur and more. If you have an abundance of apricots, you are probably planning to cook jam. This can be eaten in a thousand ways, not just spread on a slice of bread with butter, in a pancake or at the end of next winter in a carnival donut. With it, for example, you can lay out sourdough puff pastry more abundantly, roll it up and bake – this is how you get Ljubljana štrukelj. If we spread real chocolate cake with apricot jam, we get something similar to the famous Viennese sacher cake. Fresh apricots go very well with pistachios or almonds (or apricot kernels).
Maybe 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 truly perfect.
Ingredients for 8 servings
750 g pitted apricots
1 dl of olive oil
1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 head of solid lettuce
1 young red onion
250g mozzarella or burate
125g sliced prosciutto
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
Preparation
1. Clean the ants well, wash them, cut them in half and remove the stones (which can be dried on the windowsill). Prepare the grill or heat the pan properly. Coat the halved apricots with oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook them over high heat with the cut side just long enough to cook lightly (as pictured), about 5 minutes. Set them aside and let cool.
2. Meanwhile, wash, leaf and brown the salad to make it as firm and crisp as possible. Peel an onion and cut it into thin slices. In a bowl, mix the lemon juice well with the remaining oil (about 0.6 dl) and season with salt and pepper. Add the roasted apricots, minced onion and grated lettuce and mix very gently.
3. Divide the salad among plates and top with balls or slices of young mozzarella or burata (which is an even better choice), in between divide the rolls or heaps into as thin slices as possible. Drizzle with thick balsamic vinegar or the highest quality extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately, and in addition to offering a well-chilled selected wine or even an “aperol syringe”, sparkling wine will also be extremely pleasant.
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 brown it in a large pot with olive oil. Meanwhile, chop the garlic and add it at the end of roasting, just enough to simmer. Add the wine and when it boils a little, add the sliced tomatoes, the concentrate and 3 dl of water. When boiling, simmer for 15 minutes and season to taste; also add half the chopped parsley and, if desired, 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 the rice is completely softened, then sprinkle with the remaining chopped parsley and serve.
We need it
4 ripe bananas
12 scoops of ice cream (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry)
2.5 dl whipping cream
4 candied cherries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
60g slivered almonds
1 dl of chocolate coating
Preparation
Whip the cream. Peel a banana and cut it in half lengthwise and divide it among plates. Immediately sprinkle with lemon juice. Place a scoop of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream between the two banana halves and drizzle with chocolate topping. Sprinkle with toasted almond flakes and top with sweet whipped cream (which can be topped with fine drizzles of honey or drizzled with iced chocolate liqueur) and garnished with candied cherries.
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