today’s weather – not my cup of tea so, into the kitchen I go
Back in May, my daughter gave me a class at Murray’s Cheese on Mozzarella making. I’m a big fan of Murray’s Cheese on Bleecker St. and I biz around in there very often. The two of us had a fun evening which included tasting, making, and exploring affinities.
Aside from the cheese and wine, my favorite part of the evening was enjoying the bright flavor of the dried Blenheim apricots, a product they carry in the store and which was served as one of the accompaniments of the evening. A package came home with me.
Blenheim Apricots have their own special story and I’m so happy Murray’s decided to feature them in their repertoire: http://www.californiabountiful.com/features/article.aspx?arID=127
These are not your common supermarket dried apricots. These are sweet, chewy and bright-flavored, what I’d call sun-shiny – not flat and bland. They’re great for a snack, just alone, but, as you can see, they’re perfectly at home on a tasting table and in lots of baking applications. Don’t hesitate to use them in your glaze for baked ham with some ahem, Bourbon. All in all, I’m so happy that Murray’s supports a cultivar-in-need-of-rescue and has identified them as the perfect foil/compliment for their tastings. Yeah!
here they are again: photo courtesy Murray’s Cheese 10/18/16
I am a huge apricot fan and there are several posts on this blog about them. Here is the first: https://kitchen-inspirational.com/2012/06/10/ramps-scapes-and-wachauer-marille/
If you put apricots in the search box, you’ll find the rest. I have been known to scour the markets of California, Paris and Florence during fresh apricot season. Yep, I’m a hoarder.
I’m always game for experimenting in the kitchen with my basic scone recipe. Today, as it’s a bit nippy outside and rainy, I retreated into the kitchen and cooked up some bacon. One thing led to another and I pulled out those Blenheim apricots. I have always loved the sweet-savory-salty combination of apricots and bacon. (pull out my Fontina-Chive Scones with Apricot Jam which call for Pancetta…… (hmmm, cheese and apricots are a theme at Murray’s and apparently in my head, too!)
I’m a huge fan of apricot jam – just ask all of those sfogiatelles I’ve downed in Florence) Pardon me while I digress for a moment here. https://kitchen-inspirational.com/2015/04/15/a-close-look-at-nooks-and-crannies-martin-lissy-and-my-fontina-chive-scones-with-apricot-jam/ Every time I eat it or cook with it, I imagine myself in France, Austria or California of course, head over a steaming cauldron of fresh apricots and that unique heady fragrance wafting all ’round.
Here, I gilded the lily a bit, as I’m known to do, with a hint of orange and some maple syrup. Try these out and see what you think. The objective was to push forward the brightness of those choice apricots by buffeting them with the orange. I think they’re beautiful.
chewy deliciousness
THE BLENHEIM APRICOT AND MAPLE-GLAZED BACON SCONE –
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/3 cup sugar
zest of one half large navel orange
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes,
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
6 slices cooked bacon*, chopped, divided 2/3 and one third
1/4 cup dark maple syrup
1 cup Murray’s dried blenheim apricots, chopped
muscavado sugar
egg wash
*only cook the bacon to about medium-well so that it doesn’t burn during the baking process
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Take 2/3 of the chopped bacon and place it in a bowl with the maple syrup. Toss to coat. Set aside.
In the bowl of your food processor, whir together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and orange zest. Add the butter cubes and pulse 8-9 times or until the butter resembles small peas. In a two cup measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, eggs and orange juice.
Dump the dry ingredients into a low wide bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour half of the wet ingredients into the well and, working with a dough scraper, gently pull the dry ingredients into the wet. Pour in remaining wet ingredients and blend with the dough scraper just until the dough begins to hold together. Add the apricots and the 1/3 portion of the chopped bacon. Knead with your hands into a nice bouncy mass. Move the dough to a lightly-floured board and press out into a 1 1/4″ high round.
Cut scones out with a 3″ fluted biscuit cutter. Place on prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with the maple-glazed bacon. Top with a scant sprinkling of muscavado sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes, turning the pan halfway through. Remove from oven when scones are nicely browned and firm to the touch.
Serve immediately.
Recommendation: Take these back to bed today with the Weekend WSJ and Financial Times and a strong mug of coffee! 🙂