Sunday, May 31, 2009

RATAFIA DI ALBICOCCHE


"Now mash these potatoes and pretend it's his head", said a friend of mine one evening at university, referring to a man who had hurt me. Ever since then I've liked recipes that require a bit of bashing or mashing of the ingredients [eg., olive shiacciate] so, as the apricots are plentiful and beautiful at the moment, I decided to make a ratafià from them:



First I had to bash 3 kg of apricots and about 6 of their kernels [a rolling pin did the job nicely] and put them in a large, sterilised, glass container. I added 1 litre pure alcohol [you'll have to use vodka in countries where you can't get this] plus 330 ml water. To this I added 1.5 kg sugar and a little cinnamon liqueur from this pretty miniature bottle. [I guess you could add a cinnamon stick.]



Then in went the ballon whisk to mix it all. [The sugar will dissolve further with daily shaking of the container.] Now I have to leave the mixture for 10 days or so, after which it has to be strained through muslin and left another 2 days before bottling.


17 comments:

Maria said...

You never cease to amaze me with your recipies and all that you do! Looks yummy! Plus I love the bashing part! lol

All the best always, M

jams o donnell said...

It must be as much fun to make as it is to drink!

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Looks yummy, lets hope it tastes as good, sure it will. :-)

Oh yes the opening line is a HOOT...always works, whatever you are doing..but more when you have to smash or bash something!! :-0 Works a treat ha ha ha

Loving your new header :-)

PinkAcorn said...

O-Boy! My apricots should be ripe mid July here in California. I will try this recipe for sure!

Gledwood said...

... those potatoes look like apricots ...

... o! they are apricots...

~ dur!!

;->...

Gledwood said...

ps, I concur with commenter 1 above ~ an amazing recipe as per usual, Welshcakes m'dear ;->...

Anonymous said...

Mmm you are a wiz.. I love apricots but they are so out of season here, we get them at Christmas, and though I dont drink, Ive book marked this one for pressies... ta love

Whispering Walls said...

Looks very good. Gooseberry fool is more the order of the day over here (and Pimms!)

James Higham said...

And did you pretend that? :)

sally in norfolk said...

"Now mash these potatoes and pretend it's his head",

maybe some mashing would make me feel better lol lol

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Thanks, M. Good to read you being so upbeat. Bashing food is good for you! [Perhaps I should start a facebook group of food bashers.] Hi, jams. Yes, it is! Hi, Anne. Glad you're with me on that one! Also glad you noticed and like the header. Hi, Gleds and thanks. Hi, Abbey. I can't drink alcohol either at present as it's incompatible with my osteoporosis medication. But I like having pretty bottles of homemade stuff around to offer people and as you say, they make good presies. Hi, James. Yes! I recommend it, Sally.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

WW, I love gooseberry fool. Ah, Pimm....sigh!

Mopsa said...

Oh goodness...fresh apricots. I'm coming to Sicily.

CherryPie said...

It looks delicious as ever :-)

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

And very welcome you will be, Mopsa. Hi, Cherie. I'll let you have the verdict in about 10 days!

Ardent said...

It looks wonderful and I would love a taste.

However I am reluctant to make this liquor for fear I may waste perfect alcohol, if the recipe should fail.

I think I may stick to cooking Apricot up-side cake with my excess apricots.
:)

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Ardent. Well, I'll let you know how it turns out. Your cake sounds delicious.

Counters


View My Stats