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Roasted Apricots and Basil with Apricot and Pistachio Biscotti and Apricot Ice Cream

Make any or all parts of this heavenly dessert. The biscotti store well and any leftovers can be served with coffee.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Pistachio and basil work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 29 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep2 hr
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Toast the hazelnuts for 8 minutes, rub off the skins, and chop them with the pistachios. Pit and chop the dates and dried apricots.

  2. For the biscotti, beat the caster sugar with the eggs, lemon zest, flour and baking powder. Fold in the nuts, dried apricots and dates, shape into two logs on a lined tray and bake for 25 minutes.

  3. Cool the logs for 10 minutes, then slice them on the diagonal and bake the slices for 10 to 15 minutes more until dry and crisp, with the eggs fully cooked through.

  4. For the ice cream custard, split the vanilla pod and heat the double cream with the vanilla until steaming. Whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar, pour in the hot cream, then return to low heat and stir until it reaches 160°F (71°C) and coats the back of a spoon.

  5. Strain the custard into a bowl and chill. Simmer the stoned apricots with a splash of water for 5 minutes, then purée with some of the apricot liqueur and chill. Whip the 300ml double cream to soft peaks.

  6. Stir the apricot purée into the chilled custard, fold in the whipped cream, churn in an ice cream maker and freeze for at least 4 hours.

  7. For the roasted apricots, halve the fresh apricots, toss with the remaining caster sugar, lemon juice and remaining liqueur, and roast at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes until soft and syrupy. Cool slightly.

  8. Scatter the chopped basil over the roasted apricots and serve with scoops of ice cream and the biscotti. The apricot and pistachio biscotti and the ice cream may be made a day ahead.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pistachio + basiltop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together29 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Vanilla + apricottop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together608 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vanilla + datestop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together218 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + sugartop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together43,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Vanilla and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, vanilla, egg, sugar, apricot, flour, pistachio):

  1. Raspberrybetter flavor fit
  2. Figbetter flavor fit
  3. Strawberrybetter flavor fit
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, vanilla, egg, sugar, apricot, flour, pistachio. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).