Apricots Colbert

In French cooking, apricots are often paired with rice pudding – a combination that works really well.  In this case, the apricots are stuffed with the rice pudding and then deep fried like scotch eggs.  It would seem improbable that it is possible to join the two halves of the apricots together, deep fry them and keep them together - but it actually works!

It is an exquisite fruit dessert made spectacular by the apricot sauce.

The dish is probably named after Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a French statesman who served as First Minister of State under the rule of King Louis XIV.

Preparation Time: 15 Mins

Cooking Time: 100 Mins

Total Time: 2 Hrs

Ingredients

For 2 servings…

4                    Apricots  - stoned and halved   

110 gms          Sugar  - vanilla        

30 cl               Water       

                      Rice pudding  - cold  

1                    Egg  - beaten         

                      Breadcrumbs  - dry   

For the rice pudding

40 gms            Rice  - short grain    

30 cl               Milk         

10 gms            Sugar  - vanilla        

¼ tsp             Vanilla essence        

¼                   Orange  - grated rind of         

1 pinch            Nutmeg  - grated     

For deep frying

                      Oil           

To serve

                      Apricot sauce          

For the apricot sauce

4                    Apricots  - fresh, stoned         

½                   Lemon  - juice of      

1 tbs               Almonds  - ground    

30 gms            Sugar       

1 tsp               Kirsch       

Method

To make the rice pudding…

Preheat an oven to 150°C.

Lightly butter a 1½ pint ovenproof dish.

Put the rice, milk, sugar, vanilla essence and orange zest into the buttered dish and stir everything together.  Grate the nutmeg over the top of the mixture.

Bake the pudding in the oven for 1½ hours or until the top is golden brown.

To prepare and cook the apricots…

Poach the apricot halves in a syrup made from the sugar and water for 5 minutes until barely tender.  Then pat dry.

Fill each half with thick cold rice pudding; sandwich the halves together and coat with egg and breadcrumbs.  Deep-fry the coated apricots, drain and serve with the apricot sauce flavoured with kirsch.

To make the apricot sauce…

Blend together all the sauce ingredients until smooth.

Wine recommendations

A sweet white wine.

Conventional

     Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise

Interesting

     Barsac

     Bonnezeau

     Graves Supérieures