An accidental recipe! I was hoping to roast lush, summer apricots for an apricot & radicchio salad. But instead, I ended up with a roasted & disintegrated jammy & yummy mess. I had left the apricots roasting in the oven for too long while I was tidying the house for my dinner guests.
Roasted chicken legs was always on the menu and I couldn't waste that delightful apricot, jammy mess with the loveliest herbs...
Apricot, jammy mess
- 8 apricots halved & stoned
- 1 tablespoon of honey melted in a cup of boiling water
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of dried lavender flowers
- 1 teaspoon of dried coriander seeds
- a sprig of fresh rosemary & thyme from my mum's garden.
Roast in the oven on medium heat until soft & jammy.
Apricots with the Loveliest Herbs before they turned into a jammy mess.
Marinate chicken legs
- 12 chicken legs
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt & cracked pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons Tuscan Herb & Spice Blend
- 1 lemon juiced & zested
Combine all ingredients and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
Add the chicken legs, cherry tomatoes, onions & juices to the pan with the apricot, jammy mess and cook in the oven on medium heat for 1.5 hours with the lid on. Take the lid off, add 4 fresh apricots, halved & stoned and cook without the lid for a further 7 minutes.
Voila! Apricot Chicken with the Loveliest Herbs. And now for dessert...
Cherry Almond Custard Spice Dessert.
This dessert tastes & looks like Christmas and it's cooling on a hot Summer's day. My guest is intolerant of dairy and eggs so I used almond milk instead of dairy milk, and cornflour to thicken the custard. You will also need high quality Christmas cake, 2 cups of pitted & chopped fresh cherries and icing sugar to dust just before serving - it looks like Christmas snow. The following recipe serves 4 people.
Almond Custard with Spices
- 500mls almond milk
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean powder
- 1/4 teaspoon clove powder
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 6 tablespoons cornflour powder
Add the milk and honey to a pot and stir until dissolved. Sift the dry ingredients into the milk and stir until it thickens and coats the back of the spoon.
Crumble the Christmas cake and add to the base of four brandy balloon glasses. Pour the Almond Custard with Spices over the cake and layer with cherries. Place in the fridge to set & cool. Just before serving, dust with icing sugar.