Coaching Cooking

Apricots are one of my favorite fruits from childhood. I loved–and still love–dried apricots and their chewy, tangy taste. Then, as a teenager, I remember picking fresh apricots from a tree in our sideyard. They smelled so fragrant and their skins were peachy soft. Fresh apricots are perfumed with delicate flavors plus that delicious tang. We would pick the apricots fresh from the tree and slice them carefully in half. The juices would run down our hands and I remember just how sweet they were!

Fast-forward to the present…AB works late on most nights and I like to reward him with a great meal (hey, I’m a feminist, but I also believe in eating well!). So last night I decided to make stuffed cornish hens with apricot-shallot-cornbread stuffing.

I cheated this time and used the box stuffing and added chopped, dried apricots and quartered shallots, garlic cloves and lemon. There are times when it pays to be an ambitious chef and times when it’s nice to eat a wonderful meal without the Herculean strength of a sous chef.

So, to wit, here’s the recipe for Apricot-Shallot-Cornbread Stuffing:

Ingredients:

1 box of cornbread stuffing mix
4 tablespoons of butter or margarine
1 ½ cups of water
½ cup of dried apricots, chopped into medium dice

Directions:

Prep the apricots, garlic and lemon. Prepare the cornbread stuffing according to the package directions and add in the appropriate amounts of butter and water plus the apricots. Set the stuffing aside in a medium-sized bowl.

If you plan to use the stuffing with Cornish hens or chicken or turkey then prepare the meat according to instructions or a recipe. After testing the meat internally to make sure it has reached the proper degree (the stuffing box has instructions for this) add the stuffing to the meat of your choice. Place sliced lemons, whole cloves of garlic into the meat before roasting it. Remove the lemons and garlice before stuffing the meat with the cornbread stuffing about halfway into the roasting process (again, the stuffing box has the instructions for when and how).

Bon appetit!