James Gibson, Arbory Bar & Eatery
For the poached apricots:
1kg fresh apricot
250g caster sugar
250g honey
500ml water
10 cardamom pods
5 bay leaves
4 sprigs lemon thyme
Peel of one orange
30g salt
To build:
Torta del Casar cheese (most double cream bries are suitable – the only emphasis is that it’s mature and gooey in the centre, not too young)
Anchovies (Ortiz or another good quality brand)
Lemon thyme leaves
For the poached apricots:
Cut each apricot in half and remove the stone. Set aside while you prepare your poaching liquor.
Crush the cardamom pods, then gently toast them in a frying pan until aromatic.
Combine all ingredients (except the apricots and lemon thyme) in a heavy bottomed saucepan.
Bring this poaching liquor up to a boil then reduce the heat. Hold at this level and add your apricot halves.
The apricots should take about 45 minutes to poach. They're ready when they are tender but not falling apart.
Once complete, cool the apricots in the poaching liquor. Once at room temperature, they are ready to use.
To build:
Roughly an hour prior to plating the dish, remove all ingredients from the fridge. It's best served at room temperature.
Remove the outside of the cheese (or just scoop into the middle) – your goal is to only serve the gooey centre.
Build the dish as follows: per apricot half, use roughly 5g of olive jam, 10g Torta del Casar, 1 anchovy fillet and a couple leaves of lemon thyme.
You can build as many as you wish. At the end, finish the dish with a small amount of the apricot poaching liquor and a splash of Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Enjoy.
