Apricot Stuffing for Poultry
Cook ½ cup wild rice or ¾ cup white rice in boiling salted water for 30 or 45 minutes and drain. This will give about 1 ½ cups cooked rice. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan and add the rice, Mix well and season with salt and pepper. In another pan, sauté 2 tablespoons raisins in a little butter until they become puffy and stir them lightly into the rice. Slice about 12 apricot halves, using canned apricots or dried ones soaked and cooked until soft. Add the apricots to the rice with 2 or 3 tablespoons beef gravy or beef extract and 3 tablespoons chicken velouté (see May 1951). Mix all the ingredients lightly.
There are many, many apricot desserts, but I have selected the following group because it may include some that arc new to you. They arc all popular French dishes.
Omelette à la Confiture Abricol Flambée (Apricot Omelette Aflame)
Prepare a plain omelette and when it is half cooked, put 1 or 2 tablespoons apricot jam in the center. Roll the omelette, finish the cooking, and sprinkle the top with powdered sugar. Pour over it a pony of warmed mm or kirsch and ignite. Or score the top by drawing a piece of red-hot iron at intervals across the omelette, sprinkle with liqueur, and ignite. Serve while flaming.
Beignets d'Abricots (Apricot fritters)
Drain stewed or canned apricot halves and dry them well on a paper towel. Sprinkle them with a little kirsch and put them aside for 30 minutes. Dip each piece in fritter batter and when thoroughly coated, fry them, a few at a time, in hot deep fat (370° F.) for 3 to 5 minutes, or until brown. Drain on a paper towel. Place them on a platter, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and glaze under a hot broiler flame. The fritters may be served without glazing. Serve with kirsch-flavored apricot sauce.
Fritter Batter for Fruit
Sift together ½ cup flour and ¼ teaspoon salt. Beat 1 egg lightly with 1 tablespoon melted butter and stir it into the flour. Add gradually ½ cup beer, stirring only until the batter is smooth. Let it stand in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours to become light and foamy. Before using, fold in 2 stiffly beaten egg whites.
Crêpes aux Abricots (Apricot French Pancakes)
To make thin French crêpes, mix 2/3 cup flour and a pinch of salt, Beat together 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks and stir them into the dry ingredients. Add gradually 1 ¾ tups milk, stirring until the batter is smooth. Add 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1 teaspoon cognac or rum. Strain the batter through fine sieve and let it standi for about 2 hours.
Put just enough butter in a hot skillet to grease it well and pour in a very thin layer of the crêpe batter. Cook until the Crêpe is set and brown on the underside, or for about a minute, turn, and cook the other side brown. Have the pan very hot because the more quickly these thin crêpes cook, the better and more delicate they are. When each crêpe is done, spread it with apricot jam and roll it up. Arrange them all on a platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Brown them, if desired, under the broiler flame or in a very hot oven.
Apricot Charlotte
Cut bread into thin ¼-inch slices. Remove the crusts and dip each slice into melted butter. Cover the bottom and sides of a charlotte mold or any deep, round mold with the bread, overlapping the slices to make a firmer support for the tilling. Peel, core, and slice 2 large or 3 small apples. Meat 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan and add the apple slices and an equal amount of welldrained canned or stewed apricots. Cook until this mixture is soft and most of the moisture cooked away. Add the juice of ½ lemon. Fill the center of the mold with this mixture. Bake the mold on a baking sheet in a hot oven (425° F.) for 40 or 45 minutes, or until golden-brown. Invert on a serving dish and serve with apricot sauce.
Croûtes aux Abricots Flambés
Cut stale brioche or coffeecake into slices about ¼ inch thick. Place the slices in a baking pan, sprinkle with a little sugar, and brown them under the broiler flame or in a hot oven. Put a piece of canned pineapple on each slice, spread with apricot same, fluid top with half a cherry, maraschino or glacéed. Arrange the pieces in a circle, overlapping them to make an attractive ring. Heat whole small apricots or halves of large apricots in a kirsch-flavored apricot same and fill the center with them. Sprinkle with hot kirsch or rum and ignite. Serve aflame.
Abricots Flambés (Apricots Blazed with Kirsch)
Heat 1 cup apricot sauce with 2 ounces kirsch. Drain I can of small apricots and add them to the sauce. When the apricots are hot, sprinkle with 2 ounces heated kirsch and ignite. Serve aflame on vanilla or coffee ice cream.
Abricots à la Ménagère (Apricot Meringue Pudding)
Put 1 cup washed rice in a saucepan and cover well with water. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, and let the rice stand for 5 minutes. Drain it in a sieve and rinse well with cold water. Put the rice back in the pan with 2 ½ cups scalded milk, 6 tablespoons sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a piece of vanilla bean (or add vanilla extract at the end of the cooking). Bring to a boil and add 1 tablespoon butter. Cover the pan and simmer the rice very gently for about ½ hour, or until tender. Or cook in the top of a double boiler for about 45 minutes. Toss the rice with a fork to separate the grains and combine it with 3 slightly beaten egg yolks. Spread a 1-or 1 ½-inch layer of this mixture in an ovenproof serving dish. Drain apricot halves, canned or stewed, and arrange them on the rice. Cover with a meringue made by beating ½ cup sugar gradually into 2 stiffly beaten egg whiles, making attractive swirls or designs. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and brown for 15 minutes in a moderate oven (350° F.). Decorate between the meringue swirls with melted red currant jelly, alternating with thick apricot sauce forced through a paper cone with a small opening.
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