Apricot Riesling Ginger Compote (with yogurt)
What a relief to have yogurt and apricot ginger compote in the fridge when David's James unexpectedly came for supper. Apricots tend to come in 500-gram punnets but my apricot tart takes about 750 grams, so the remaining 250 g hang about until transfigured into compote. Water, lemon juice and sugar are enough to make something delicious, but Riesling and a few ginger chunks lift the recipe into one worth sharing.
Apricot ginger compote (adapted from the Joy of Cooking)
Pit your apricots and slice each half into four pieces. (I didn't bother with peeling the fruit, and didn't regret it.) Peel an inch or so of ginger root and chop it into a few chunks.
Check how many cups of fruit you have. For each cup of fruit, stir together 2/3 C sugar and 2 T Riesling in a pan and add the ginger chunks but not the apricots. Cook this fragrant mixture for 10 minutes, then add the apricots. Simmer gently until the fruit is tender and glassy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the fruit into jars*, then continue to boil the sugar/wine/ginger syrup until it's thick enough for your taste. (Mine was still quite liquid when I stopped but that was fine with me.)
Fish out the ginger chunks, then pour the syrup over the fruit. You'll probably end up with more syrup than can be fit into the compote jars; I bottled this and have used it as ginger apricot cordial to be added to lemonade in place of sugar syrup or to sparkling water, to be poured over pancakes, etc.
And to make my nonce dessert, just spoon a bit of syrup into small bowls, top generously with plain whole-milk yogurt, then add fruit on top and garnish with a sprig of mint (whose taste and colour is the perfect foil).
*My jars were fresh from the dishwasher and I knew I would store the compote in the refrigerator, so didn't bother with extensive sterilization, but check out these BBC tips if needed.
