Apricot And Fig Compote With Wine

The light in here is not helping my crummy camera any, but it is waaaay too cold to take it outside into natural light for a photo. Brrrr. Midwestern winter.



Sometimes I'm at my best using up what I have. In this case, it was some dried fruit lurking in the back of the fridge, an open bottle of red wine, tangerines and herbs. As I was juicing the tangerines this morning I didn't really have anything in mind other than drinking it-sometimes ideas just present themselves, and that's what happened here. I'm going to serve this with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

You Will Need:

10 dried figs
10 dried apricots
1 cup tangerine juice
1 tablespoon chopped crystalised ginger
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 cup dry red wine

bring everything to a boil in a non-reactive pan and cook until the alcohol burns off (a few minutes). Reduce heat and simmer until thickened and syrupy. Don't cook all the liquid out as it will soak up more as it sits and cools. At some point in the cooking, give the figs a gentle poke with a wooden spoon to release some of their insides and let the liquid permeate. You don't need to chop the fruit, or mash it-just a small bit of pressure will do.

Chill, but bring to room temperature before serving.