August Apricots
And more on blueberry muffins
There was a tiny Turkish restaurant in my neighborhood in New York City that I thought about the other day.
The restaurant, Üsküdar, was one of my favorite places to eat, drink and celebrate with friends and family. I was a happy regular at this 30-plus-year-old Second Avenue establishment.
The red lentil soup, the lamb dishes, the patlican, the bread, the Efes beer — all of it was delicious. I’m hoping it’s still open, my New York family is checking for me.
When I saw end-of-season apricots at the market this week, I scooped some up. They reminded me of a sweet and simple dessert I enjoyed so much at Üsküdar.
The chef would often deliver the small plate himself. Dried Turkish apricots, rehydrated and poached, stuffed with a whole blanched almond, then topped with sweet, lightly whipped cream and chopped pistachios.
You could tell who the regular patrons were. The apricots were brought to those tables as a gift, along with glasses of Turkish tea and sometimes the licorice-tasting spirit, Raki.
This is the simplest of takes on that treat, using fresh apricots, pistachios, yogurt and a touch of thyme.
It’s a reminder of a dessert and a place I really liked.
Poaching the apricots
This a basic simple syrup and these amounts will depend on the size of your apricots, and how many you want to poach, so adjust for both.
Ingredients
4 ripe apricots, rinsed, halved and pitted
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water
Squeeze of lemon or lime (optional)
Method
Add water and sugar to saucepan or skillet, simmer till all the sugar dissolves.
Slide apricots into pan and adjust heat to bring back to simmer.
Simmer for 6-8 minutes, turning apricots once or twice.
Remove apricots with some syrup and place in a bowl, allow to cool. Refrigerate to chill, may be made ahead and kept chilled and covered overnight. In fact, they’re better after an overnight stay in the syrup.
Filling and Plating
Plain Yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
Chopped Pistachios
Fresh sprigs of Thyme
Arrange chilled apricots on a plate. Spoon some syrup in center of the apricots.
Fill each apricot with a spoonful of yogurt.
Sprinkle each apricot with chopped pistachios.
Garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme and crumble just the TINIEST bit of the herb on top of the yogurt. (optional)
I know it’s a dessert, but because I replaced the cream with the yogurt, I had these for lunch. 🧡
In the “I love when things like this happen” category, I checked my email as I was finishing up the newsletter this evening and found that the great Chef, Philanthropist and Founder of World Central Kitchen (https://wck.org), José Andrés, just posted about his love of old cookbooks as time capsules and about a very special Turkish Cookbook. Here’s the link to today’s post and the Chef’s newsletter.
A Blueberry Muffin Follow-up
I was so happy to hear from many of you last week — you made the blueberry muffins and were pleased — thanks for letting me know!
Some questions came up, the first being about the mashed blueberries and concern they would turn the batter purple, but this recipe won’t do that, I promise. I made the muffins again yesterday, so I took some photos to share with you.
The other question was about the baking powder added to the wet ingredients — I confess, I’ve always added to the dry ingredients. I checked in with baking expert and cookbook author Anne Byrn and with double-acting baking powder, no worries. Here’s a link to Anne’s terrific newsletter.
The Mashed Blueberries
As you can see, I don’t mash them up completely.
These are added to the creamed butter, sugar and egg mixture, so they are not initially mixed with any of the flour.
Adding the Flour
Start by folding some of the flour into the mashed blueberry mixture and then alternate with the milk and end with flour.
Adding the Two Cups of Blueberries
Fold in the whole blueberries gently with a spatula.
Ice Cream Scoop batter into muffin cups.
It’s easier! Sprinkle with nutmeg sugar.
Enjoy.
Thanks for being here and a warm welcome to new subscribers. Once again, this is Elizabeth Alston’s blueberry muffin recipe from her book Muffins.
Have a great weekend!
Jolene
Oh, Jolene—I love that this post is about apricots (even though I don’t eat them myself!). My father passed away recently, and dried apricots were one his favorite foods in the entire world. He grew up across the street from an orchard and his summer job as a kid was, as he called it, “cuttin’ ‘cots”—taking the less-than-perfect apricots off the tree to be cut and dried in the sulfur house. I used to buy him a giant tray of fancy dried apricots for every birthday and holiday. Thanks so much for making me think of him with this post. Have a wonderful weekend.
I HAVE APRICOTS AND BLUEBERRIES STANDING BY!