>>🎁HAPPY APRICOT DAY 🎁<< Celebrate the official apricot day with 3 super cool recipes (vegan friendly)😋

Hi there steemonians, everyone should have an excuse to celebrate and today is officially APRICOT DAY 🤩

🍑 Apricots - This juicy little fruit is loved by many the world over, and not surprisingly with its super gold colour, goes well with sweet and savoury dishes, and is super healthy too 🌱

Apricots are super sweet, with a sort of peachy flavour, and can be eaten raw, dried, or often used in jams and purees. When they are dried, they glisten like gold and just by dipping them in chocolate, they can become an easy, but stunning gift or treat.

These are super easy to make and really all you need is dried apricots and melted chocolate (or vegan chocolate) 😁

You can use any chocolate, but I prefer dark chocolate for a more decadent flavour

INGREDIENTS:

30 dried apricots
1 cup chocolate of your choice melted (if using two kinds of chocolate use ½ cup each, keep vegan chocolate well away from milk based chocolates 😉 )
Toppings - 1 cup crushed nuts and/or enough sprinkles to cover top side of apricots.

METHOD:

1 -Line cookie sheet with parchment.
2 -Select and layout your apricots.
3 -Dip first apricot half way, wiggle it around a bit to get a good coat.
4 -Sprinkle with topping of choice.
5 -Repeat until done.
6 -Let set until chocolate has dried.
7 -Store in cool and dry place.

Thanks to Sugar Coated Cottage for this super simple recipe ❤️

As well as a lovely treat, apricots are also pretty healthy (minus the chocolate 😝 )

👩‍⚕️ Apricots are known for being great for your heart, blood, clear skin and bones. These little powerhouses are a great source of fibre, potassium, vitamins A, C and iron. Apricots are also diet friendly as they fill you up but don't add unnecessary calories. 👨‍⚕️

The official apricot day can be traced back to when the apricot tree was domesticated in china around 4000 years ago.
From there the apricot spread across Asia and into the Mediterranean. The Spanish Conquistadores took apricot to America around the 16th century. 🌎 95% of the apricots grown in the United States come from the San Joaquin Valley in California. 🤠

🍑 Lets hear it for the humble apricot, its definitely worth celebrating 🍑

And what better way to celebrate than with 3 awesome apricot recipes

I chose 3 for a reason - so we could have one dessert recipe, a meat recipe, and a vegan recipe

First we have Golden cous cous with crispy onions and apricots

See full post here BBCgoodfood

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Excellent as a side dish, or equally as a main, these yummy fresh and fruity flavours will have you crying out for more.
For a main dish, you could add meat, or soy pieces and serve with pitta bread 🙂

Ingredients:

500g couscous
1 vegetable stock cube
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100g dried apricot, chopped
3 red onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp caster sugar
about 500ml vegetable or sunflower oil
zest and juice 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
small bunch coriander, chopped
small handful mint
chopped, a few leaves reserved

Method:

Boil a kettle. Tip the couscous into a large bowl, crumble in the stock cube, then add the turmeric, cinnamon and apricots, and season well. Pour over 500ml boiling water, give everything a quick stir, then cover with cling film and leave for 5 mins.

Put half the sliced onions in a bowl with a good pinch of salt and the sugar, pour over enough boiling water to cover and leave to steep for 10 mins. (This will remove some of the onions’ acidity and turn them a beautiful bright pink colour.)

Heat enough oil to come about 5cm up the side of a deep saucepan. Once hot, fry the remaining onions in batches for 1-2 mins until golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.

Use a fork to fluff up the couscous. Drain the steeped onions and stir through the couscous with the lemon zest and juice, olive oil and herbs. Tip onto a serving platter or bowl and scatter with the crispy onions and mint leaves.

Next up, we have the meat dish for the carnivores out there 🥩

Rolled pork belly with herby apricot & honey stuffing 🍗

See full post here BBCgoodfood

If your a pork fan, and love the crispy "crackling skin, you ill love this fruity take on an old favourite. This would accompany the cous cous recipe perfectly 🤗

Ingredients:

4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2¼kg piece pork belly, boned, skin on
small bunch parsley chopped
small handful thyme, leaves picked
10 sage leaves, chopped
50g fresh breadcrumb
140g dried apricot, chopped
1 tbsp flaky sea salt
2 tbsp clear honey

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a small frying pan. Add the onion and cook for 10 mins until golden. Trim off about 100g of the pork, from the meaty side – but if the butcher has left a chunk of meat on one side where the ribs have been removed, leave this on as it will help you roll it. Whizz the pork trimmings in a food processor, then tip into a bowl with the herbs, breadcrumbs, apricots, onion and 2 tbsp oil, season and mix well.

Turn the pork belly skin-side up. Using a sharp knife or Stanley knife, score the skin at 1cm intervals and rub the sea salt all over. Turn the pork belly over and season a little more, then brush the honey over the flesh. Lay the stuffing down the centre, then bring the 2 ends together and roll tightly. Flip the pork over so the ends meet underneath. Tie the rolled pork with kitchen string to secure. Put the meat on a wire rack in a roasting tin and transfer to the fridge, uncovered for a few hrs or up to 24 hrs, so the skin has time to dry out and the meat takes on the flavours from the stuffing.

Heat oven to 220C/180C fan/gas 6. Rub the pork with the remaining oil and a little more sea salt. Roast in the centre of the oven for 30 mins. Turn the oven down to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and continue cooking for 2 hrs. Finally, turn the oven back up to 220C/200C fan/gas 7 to crisp up the skin for another 30 mins – don’t worry if your pork looks dark on the outside, it will still be juicy and delicious in the middle. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and leave to rest for 45 mins before carving. If your skin does not turn crispy, pop the joint under a hot grill for a few mins, rolling it onto its side to get the sides nice and crispy too – just keep an eye on it as it will burn easily.

And finally - The Grand Finally - Dessert 🍦

Poached apricots with rosewater

Delicately flavoured and simply divine, this dessert is an all round winner - Tastes great, low fat, and easy to prepare! 🍑

Ingredients:

50g golden caster sugar
400g ripe apricot, halved and stoned
few drops rosewater
Greek yogurt or vegan yogurt, to serve
handful pistachios, roughly chopped, to serve

Method:

Put the sugar into a medium pan with 150ml water. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves, then add the apricots and simmer for 15 mins until soft. Take off the heat, splash in the rosewater and leave to cool. Spoon into glasses to serve, topped with a few dollops of the yogurt and a scattering of nuts.

✨🍑So there we have it, a celebration of the humble apricot Method🍑✨

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Check my account tomorrow to see what official day its going to be - Many thanks and much love 🤗