Lavender and Apricot Compote
 Chocolate & Zucchini
Clotilde Dusoulier
The genesis of this book is rooted in the reverse of the classic California girl goes to France and falls in love with food story. This time the Parisian girl went to California. Her food affair begat a popular blog and now an absolutely enchanting book. Though diminutive, it is packed with pleasure: for the joy the author finds in her subject; for her tips for the contemporary cook; and finally, for the recipes, some of them seldom seen in other books (pasta cooked like risotto) and others that offer a new interpretation of standards (tomato and sardine club sandwich). Perhaps not so luscious as Nigella Lawson, Clotilde Dusoulier, nonetheless, brings the same sensibility to French food that Nigella has applied so successfully to British and Mediterranean food. Colour photos. Paper, 244 pp, $24.95.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
A pinch of fine sea salt
2 pounds fresh ripe apricots, halved and pitted
2 teaspoons dried unsprayed edible lavender flowers
(Cookbook Store advice: we found some at St Lawrence Market South Building as well as Riverdale Farmer's Market)
1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Sprinkle with sugar and let it melt without stirring for 3 to 5 minutes, until blond and lightly caramelized. Add the salt and the apricots and stir to coat. Cover and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.
2. Remove the fruit from the skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside in a large bowl, leaving as much of the cooking juices as you can in the skillet. Sprinkle the lavender over the juices, turn the heat to medium-high, and cook uncovered until thick and syrupy, 4 to 5 minutes, stirring regularly, (I leave the lavender buds in the compote, but if you think you might be bothered by them, strain the juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Discard the lavender, and return the juices to the skillet.)
3. Return the apricots to the skillet and stir delicately to coat. Let cool until slightly warm or at room temperature.
Serve with ladyfingers or thin butter cookies.
Variations: This compote can also be made with peaches or plums.
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