One of my favorite fruit seasons just arrived at New York City's Greenmarkets: fresh apricots! The deep rosy blush on these Catskill fruits always bewitches me into buying tons more than I really need and this year is no different. Funny thing about fresh apricots though: as much as I love their seductively rich, tart flavor, I'm not crazy about them eaten out of hand. No matter how often I ripen them at home, the flesh is still dense and kind of dry. What I'm craving is the dripping juiciness of a peach but that's not what a fresh apricot is about. To get to my idea of apricot nirvana, I've learned to skip the raw stage and just go ahead and poach them in a sugar syrup. Knowing that vanilla and apricots are a killer-delicious combination, I rustled around my spice jars last weekend and hallelujah, there was the vanilla bean I'd rescued almost a year ago from Café D'Alsace. The bean, in its entirety, had arrived at the table as a garnish to a dessert, casually perched across the plate. I was incensed. No one eats a vanilla bean like a French fry; it's split open and infused in liquid to release its creamy aroma. Why garnish a dish with something inedible? This beautiful and expensive fruit of a tropical orchid, grown a long way from New York City, was about be tossed in the trash with all the other uneaten garnishes. What a horrendous waste! So I stuck it in my purse, then into a spare jar at home, and now I had the perfect use for it. Slit open and simmered in my sugar syrup while I pitted the apricots, the vanilla bean soon perfumed the whole apartment.
Meanwhile, I halved and pitted the apricots, then, working in batches--remember, I bought a ton--slipped them into the sugar syrup and gently simmered them for 3 to 5 minutes. You know they're done when you see them visibly relax and plump as they absorb some of their sweet bath. It's that simple. Later, as I got ready to serve up the apricots, I suddenly remembered the loaf of cherry brioche I'd been given as a "favor" when I left Eleven Madison Park the night before (after an incredible meal, by the way). Why not spiff up these apricots even more? I quickly toasted slices of the brioche and spooned the fruit and syrup over them. If I'd had some cream to whip, or some mascarpone or crème fraiche around, I would have added a dollop of that, too. The family was wowed without it. "Where did you get this idea?" they asked as they stopped to catch their breath between eager bites. "Oh, just using up some leftovers," I replied.
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