Vanilla & orange roasted apricots

I find that apricots are often a bit tasteless and floury textured in the UK, but this is a way of bringing even the most flavourless to life. I love to eat these for breakfast with yoghurt and granola, porridge or they’re great for pud in the evening with ice cream.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• Approx 8 apricots

• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice

• 1 tbsp demerara sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla paste or 1 vanilla pod

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

• Cut the apricots in half and take the stones out. Place in a medium sized oven proof dish, so they fit snugly.

• Spoon over the orange juice, sugar and vanilla paste. If you’re using a fresh pod then I would mix up the juice, sugar and seeds in a bowl before pouring over the apricots.

• Put the apricots in the oven for 40—45 minutes, until fully softened. They shouldn’t be dried out at all - you can always cover with foil if you think they are.

Tip

• I’ve used vanilla bean paste as it is cheaper than using a pod and I think the apricots still taste really good.

• Add a little squeeze of honey or fruit syrup once cooked if you want a slightly sweater taste. You could also sub the demerara sugar and cook with these too.

• Try with my granola - recipe here

Apricot & cardamom cake

Oh my goodness I love this cake; it tastes amazing and is different from the norm. The subtle addition of cardamom makes this bake interesting and would be the perfect end to a Middle Eastern-style meal. Gorgeous. The recipe comes from Simply Nigella and is very easy to follow. I love Nigella's new book as it is full of fresh new recipes that are full of flavour, but more straightforward and lower in fat. 

Ingredients

• 150 g dried apricots

• 250 cold water

• 2 cardamom pods (cracked)

• 200 grams ground almonds

• 50 grams fine polenta (not instant)

• 1 teaspoon baking powder (gluten-free if required)

• 150 g caster sugar

• 6 large eggs; ideally at room temperature

• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon rosewater - I left this out as I find it too floral

• Sunflower oil or butter for greasing

• Decoration

• 2 teaspoons apricot jam (or rose petal jam)

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

• 2½ teaspoons very finely chopped pistachios

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°c

• Use a 20cm (or 21cm also works well) springform cake

• Put the apricots in a small saucepan with the split cardamom pods and just enough water to cover them. While you're doing this grease the tin and line with parchment. Bring to boil and turn down to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to cool and the apricots will absorb more water, so make sure you don't boil them dry

• Weigh the other ingredients while the apricots are cooling down. Once the apricots are cool put 5 aside and remove the cardamom pods, but not the seeds. Place the rest of the apricots and the cardamom seeds into a food processor, or if you don't have one you can finely chop with a knife (including the seeds - they'll be soft and easy to chop, just a bit fiddly)

• Next put the almonds, polenta, baking powder, caster sugar, sugar and eggs into a food processor or a mixer with the beater attachment and mix thoroughly. Once mixed add the lemon juice and then the apricots.

• Scrape the mixture into the tin and then position the apricot halves around the top of the cake and put in the oven for 40 mins.

• I checked mine after 30 minutes and it had browned enough on top so I placed a piece of tin foil lightly over the top for the last ten minutes - this is what Nigella recommends in her recipe

  Tip

• If you don't like cardamom then just leave it out of the recipe, or add a teaspoon of almond essence instead. It'll still be one of the most delicious soft cakes you have ever eaten.