Of pleasant morning surprises and apricot pies...

So I'm woken up this morning by the wonderful smell of fried eggs and the sounds of acoustic jazz drifting up from below. Ok Serene, I tell myself, you are either in some crazy dream where you've found yourself in an episode of Jamie Oliver's cooking show, or Jude has decided to wake up early on a Sunday morning to make you breakfast. Thankfully, blessed as I am, it was indeed my husband bustling in the kitchen. I go downstairs to find the table all set, platesful of fried eggs with onions & mushrooms, toast & spreads, and coffee of course. He even brought in the papers and magically made the radio play gorgeously mellow Sunday morning breakfast jazz... There could not have been a better way to wake a girl up :)

And so, to return the lovely gesture, I decided to bake him a pie. We still had apricots in the fridge and I figured I should use them up before they turn bad. The recipe was simple enough and I had all the ingredients anyway so an apricot pie it was to be for a tea-time snack (since there was not way we were going to be able to eat lunch after that substantial breakfast...) I love the color of apricots- that vibrant golden hue with a slight blush. They're more delicate than peaches although they have a similar texture. I just like the way they look and feel- small, sweet and pretty.

FRESH APRICOT PIE
Ingredients:
* 1 cup sugar
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon
* pastry for double crust 9-inch pie
* 3 cups fresh apricot halves
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon butter, cut in small pieces

Preparation:
Line a 9-inch pie pan with half of the pie crust. Combine sugar, flour, and nutmeg. Fill pie crust with apricot halves and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Sprinkle lemon juice over all then dot with the butter. Cover with top crust, trim and flute edges and make several small slits in top to vent. Brush with beaten egg or milk. Bake at 425° for 30 to 40 minutes.


The pie came out pretty well- flaky crust (thank you Pillsbury!) and oozey, chunky filling. Baking really intensified the sweetness and heady fragrance of the apricots but I didn't add enough sugar (either that or too much lemon juice) so we'll probably have to drizzle honey over when we run out of ice-cream. The cinnamon also lent a warm spice that just brought everything together. We had the pie ala mode, plonked on our couch, enjoying the mild summer breeze and the opening minutes of the World Cup final.

A perfect Sunday... :)