Apricots with vanilla and verbena sauce – Recipe of the week

Recipe from Alfonso Iaccarino
Photography by Michele Tabozzi

 

Ingredients for 4 portions:

12 apricots
5 cl whole milk
10 g lemon verbena
1 g  seeds extracted from a vanilla bean
2 cl almond milk
10 g almonds
50 g simple syrup ( 50% water/50% granulated sugar)
1 lemon

 

Peel 4 of the apricots, puree them with the lemon juice, the simple syrup and the vanilla. Pass the pulp through a fine sieve or chinois. Unite the whole milk and almond milk, bring to a boil and allow to reduce by one third.

Bring a small amount of  water to a boil, add the lemon verbena and allow to steep for 5 minutes. Drain, cool and puree the herbs.

Peel the remaining apricots, halve them, remove the stones and allow them to macerate in the apricot puree for approximately one hour.

Place a halved apricot on each serving plate, top with another half cut into small slices, drizzle with a little of the milk reduction, add another apricot half and drizzle with a little of the macerating liquid. Decorate with the remaining milk reduction, drops of the pureed verbena, almonds and a few sprigs of verbena.