Fennel

The Canal House's Wine-Poached Apricots with Ricotta

July 24, 2014

All week long, Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton of The Canal House will be sharing their recipes from last year's Canal House Cooking, Volume 8: Pronto! And we're giving away a copy every day this week. Open up a bottle of Sangiovese and follow along to bring a little Italy into your home.

Today: Drunken apricots that will throw a party in your mouth.

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We planted bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare "Purpureum"), which is a culinary herb, in our garden a few years ago and it took off. Each spring it comes back fuller and more vigorous than the year before. By midsummer, the tall, feathery plants are blooming lacy yellow flowers (which eventually bear the tiny aromatic seeds we cook with), just as the first apricots appear at our local orchard. We love the combination of these two flavors: the perfumed apricots and the licorice of the fennel. We keep some of the flavorful syrup from the apricots to make a refreshing drink with bubbly Prosecco, or with sparkling water over ice.

Wine-Poached Apricots with Ricotta

Serves 6

For the Apricots

1 bottle white wine
4 branches fennel fronds, preferably with their flowering heads
6 black peppercorns
1 1/2 pounds apricots, halved and pitted

For the Ricotta

2 cups finest fresh ricotta
1 tablespoon sugar

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

We're giving away a copy of Canal House Cooking, Volume 8: Pronto! every day this week! To enter to win today's copy, tell us in the comments: What's your favorite boozy dessert? We'll choose winners next Monday, July 28th.

Photo by The Canal House. Excerpted from the book Canal House Cooking, Volume 8: Pronto! by Christopher Hersheimer and Melissa Hamilton. Reprinted by permission of The Canal House. All rights reserved.

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

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The Canal House

Written by: The Canal House

16 Comments

cookinginvictoria July 28, 2014
Peaches soaked in wine (recipe from Delancey by Molly Wizenberg). Also, I highly recommend the Brandy Alexander pie on this site.
 
AntoniaJames July 25, 2014
This time of year? A Dark and Stormy vanilla ice cream float; or, if that's not convenient, a milkshake made with dark chocolate ice cream, a good glug of coconut milk, and dark rum - topped with whipped cream and chopped toasted almonds. ;o)
 
pretty_pathetic July 25, 2014
Melon balls with prosecco -- sparkly and not-too-sweet.
 
hobbit2nd July 24, 2014
Bananas Foster.
 
Jackie P. July 24, 2014
Zabaglione with berries
 
JudyH July 24, 2014
Port with chocolate
 
rachellynnec July 24, 2014
My favorite boozy dessert has to be an affogato with amaretto... or a late, after-dinner negroni. Does that count?
 
klrcon July 24, 2014
This recipe looks delicious - and lucky me, I have a small basket of apricots begging for just such a treatment. Thanks!
My favorite boozy dessert? Figs marinated in red wine. Also pears poached in champagne. Ummm, you can see why this recipe appealed to me.
 
EmFraiche July 24, 2014
Bananas foster! Mmmmmm...
 
christina July 24, 2014
My favorite dessert would be low-guilt and easy to make. I think this recipe makes the cut. I made the Canal House's Zucchini with Spicy Anchovy Butter for a small dinner party last night and everyone was blown away. LOVED how simple it was so create something so special and delicious!
 
Cristina E. July 24, 2014
This has become my favorite boozy dessert!!!
 
Sini |. July 24, 2014
This is just plain amazing. I love everything about it: the wine, the fennel, the pepper. Can't wait to make this. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
 
Sini |. July 24, 2014
Oh and my favorite boozy dessert? A nice vanilla ice cream with Cointreau. So good!
 
Jonathan July 24, 2014
Simplicity is key; I love the flavor combination of fresh peaches with vanilla. Poaching peaches in a syrup bolstered by a sweeter bourbon, and dolloping alongside a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream or gelato cannot be beat during the summer months.
 
Adriana G. July 24, 2014
Tiramisú

clearly.
 
Cori July 24, 2014
ice cream with baileys, classic and awesome