Apricot forks

by Karolina, 14th October 2012

Sorry for longer silence here on the blog...I'm guilty of catching some holidays :)
While I'll tell you more about it some other time...today a little, quick appetizer.

Taking advantage of last apricots this season, I made a quick and easy appetizer which is tasty and good looking at the same time.

Forks with apricot, goat cheese and bacon.
I really love the combination of fruits and meat - in this case smoky bacon. Goat cheese adds a bit of tangy, salty taste to it, which goes perfectly with smooth sweetness of apricots.
You can use as well peaches instead of apricots and Parma ham instead of bacon.

 It really is as easy as it sounds...

All you need to do is:

1. Prepare the goat cheese (preferably softer one) - add pepper (little bit of salt if needed) and form little balls
2. Roll the balls of cheese in bacon
3. Fork the rolled cheese
4. Grill quickly the apricot quarters
5. Fork the apricots
6. Serve - I served it with small salad, a few more apricots, walnuts
7. Gently sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and honey

This looks really lovely on the individual serving plates but I'm sure it will be stunning on one big serving dish as well.

All of it takes not more than 15 minutes to prepare.
So, go on - give it a try and let me know how you like it!

Keeping the sunshine...

by Karolina, 20th September 2012

I can already feel the autumn's breath on my back. It's close, veeeeeery close.
Evenings are shorter and morning a little chilly. Yes my dears...we have to say goodbye to summer and brace for long cold months.
But i decided to keep a little bit of sunshine with me, to steal tiny sweet ray of summer...

I made apricot jam. With these lovely sunny like gems.
I was inspired by lovely Bea from Bea in the kitchen and her incredible canning skills. She has dozens of amazingly good jam, confiture and marmalade recipes. I'm making her plum-chocolate jam pretty much every year.
This time I decided to combine couple of ideas from her apricot recipes and created my own apricot jam

To usual suspects: apricots and sugar, I added as well cardamon and fresh thyme.
And they cooked...What a smell!!! Amazing!

At the very end I added some almond flakes.
The end effect is really nice.
Sweet and a little tangy at the same time with lovely smell of cardamon and just a tiny hint of thyme.

Are you planning to keep some summer? Tell me how!