Vegetarian Recipe: Apricots with Moscato and Thyme Syrup

Every week on the Good Food Blog we celebrate Meatless Monday by sharing a vegetarian recipe from our archives.

Abby Dodge is an editor at Fine Cooking magazine. She first shared this recipe for Apricots with Moscato and Thyme Syrup on June 19, 2004.

Photo: kitchenkonfidence.com

Apricots with Moscato and Thyme Syrup

Serves 4-6; yields 1 cup syrup.

Moscato can be expensive, but there are delicious, affordable examples, such as Sutter Home Moscato, that work well in this recipe. A pluot is a cross between a plum and apricot.

• 2 to 3 cups Moscato or Moscato d’Asti (or any dessert wine made from Muscat grapes)

• 5 ozs dried apricots (15 to 20)

• 5 Tablespoons granulated sugar

• 4 sprigs fresh thyme; more for garnish

• 2 pounds fresh apricots or pluots (about 16 apricots or 7 medium pluots)

In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of the wine to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the dried apricots. Cover the pan and let the apricots marinate in the wine for at least 8 hours, or overnight. Strain the wine from the marinated fruit into a measuring cup. You’ll need a total of 1 cup wine; if you have less, supplement with more wine from the bottle. If you have more, discard the extra. Combine the 1 cup wine and the sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Add the thyme and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 7 minutes to let the thyme infuse. Strain through a fine sieve, let cool, and refrigerate until completely chilled. Just before serving, cut the plumped dried apricots into quarters, slicing them lengthwise. Cut the fresh apricots or pluots in half, pit them, and slice each half into 1/2 inch-wide wedges. Put all the fruit in a large serving bowl.

Pour on just enough of the Moscato syrup to lightly coat the fruit, about 1/3 cup.

Garnish with fresh sprigs of thyme, if you like.