12–15 apricots, seeds removed, cut in half

1 cup caster sugar

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, chopped into walnut-sized pieces, and tossed in a little lemon juice to prevent discolouring

juice of 1 lemon

1 dessertspoon Calvados, if you have some — If not, forget it. It’s too expensive to buy just for this dish. Try whatever appropriate liqueur, fortified wine, or spirit you believe will suit this dish.

puff pastry or short pastry

egg yolk and a little milk

1

Toss the apricots with the sugar into a pan which can go into the oven later, and cook them gently for a few minutes, until the apricots have taken up the sugar, softened a little at the edges, and started to give some juice to the pan. Add the apples and toss around until the apples start to soften — a few more minutes. Add the lemon juice and Calvados, and toss through. Set fruit and pan aside to cool.

2

Heat oven to 200°C. Cover the apricot-apple mix with pastry, so that the pastry adheres to the sides of the pan. Refrigerate again for 20 minutes, then brush the pastry with a little egg yolk-milk mix. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top is well browned.

3

Serve from the pan. (You can turn it over like a tarte Tatin if you wish, but the main reason for cooking like this is to allow the juices to run freely. If you wish to unmould so the pastry is on the bottom, just run a knife about the edge and turn it over onto a plate.)

4

Serving straight from the pan makes this an appropriate method for cooking juicy fruits like blackcurrants or gooseberries.

WINE: A lot of good botrytis whites develop an apricot-like aroma and flavour. This is a lovely match. De Bortoli’s Semillon Sauternes is great or try Mitchelton’s Botrytis Rhine Riesling or Tim Knappstein’s Auslese.