Apricot Peel Quick Bread and Apricot Peel Baked Tofu

All that canning left us with a pile of apricot peels. The first peels were made into ice cream, but after the final batches of jam and fruit in syrup, I still had two cups of pureed peel to use.


I've always enjoyed applesauce cakes and tea loaves as they are moist without relying on much fat, and are good keepers. With that in mind, I adapted an applesauce tea bread recipe from America Cooks, substituting apricot puree for the applesauce, and raisins for the nuts. It worked! This is good to know, as we'll be bottling up Italian plums before you know it, and looking for something to do with the skins. I can't see why this wouldn't work with peaches, nectarines, or any soft-skinned fruit. Hooray, no waste!

With the tofu I was aiming for an apricot chicken sort of thing. My plan is to serve it over a bed of fruited cous cous tomorrow with a spicy chili and coriander jam.

 These last batches draw the 2015 Apricot Olympiad to a close. It was a good year. I had my doubts about the raspberry apricot jam, but Danny has a better sense for this sort of thing than I, and it is delicious. We only managed to eek out 5 half pints from the recipe-next year we'll do two batches.

For the loaf:
(Given in US measures)

2 cups plain flour
3/4  cup granulated sugar (you could reduce that to 1/2 with no harm done)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup pureed apricot peels
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup raisins (or nuts if you prefer)or currants, or chopped dried apricots-whatever you have/like.

Grease an 8 inch loaf tin. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together dry ingredients, add egg, puree, and butter. Mix Fold in raisins or nuts. until everything is moistened. Don't over-mix.

Pour into tin and bake 40-50 minutes (it will depend on your oven) until loaf tests done, but isn't bone dry. When cool, wrap tightly in a layer of wax paper, then cling film. These loaves improve with age, but I wouldn't expect you to wait (we didn't).

For the tofu:

A 1 lb. block of extra firm tofu pressed dry beneath towels, and cut into fourths.
1 cup apricot puree
1 tablespoon honey or golden syrup
1 vegetarian soup cube, ground to powder
3 tablespoons corn oil (or whatever you have)
2 tablespoons malt vinegar
1 tablespoon ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Mix well, place in a baking dish with the tofu. You can marinate overnight if you like, or just go ahead and bake (I did the later).

Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees F. Carefully flip the slices, and bake another 30-50 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Cool, then wrap tightly in cling film until needed if not serving immediately. If your prefer a more meat-like texture, slice the tofu thinly and saute in a hot pan until the texture firms and the slices caramelise.

The pan will be awful to clean-sorry. A good soak will help.

I hope these recipes give you some inspiration to put otherwise discarded food to good use.