There is nothing quite like ripe fresh apricots, but a good one is hard to find (and dried apricots, as good as they are, will not do here). Roasting them in the oven, however, intensifies their sweetness and makes average apricots quite succulent. As a result, few fruit desserts are as simple and delicious as this one.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 4 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, plus more for the baking dish
1 pound ripe fresh apricots, halved and pitted
2 tablespoons sugar
Crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream for serving
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Generously butter a large baking dish. Put the apricot halves, cut side up, in the dish in one layer. Sprinkle with sugar, dot with butter, and bake until tender, about 15 minutes. The apricots should be caramelized with the sugar but retain their shape.
Step 2
Serve immediately with crème fraîche or ice cream.
The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.
MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.
