When ripe, fresh apricots have a velvety-soft deep golden skin with a faint blush and the most delicate flavor. When picked before maturity, the flavor is less than exciting but baking surprisingly intensifies the flavor even of the pallid ones, bringing them more toward the piquancy of dried apricots. Since baked aprictos are so vivid, I always bake them entirely open-faced in a pie. Glazing them with strained apricot preserves adds extra flavor and makes them glisten.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Make the dough:
Step 1
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If neccessary, allow it to sit for about 10 minutes or until it is soft enough to roll.
Step 2
Using a pastry cloth and sleeve rubbed with flour or two sheetes of plastic wrap lightly sprinkled with flour, roll the dough 1/8 inch thick or less and large enough to cut a 13-inch circle. Use an expandable flan ring or a cardboard template and a sharp knife as a guide to cut out the circle. Transfer the dough to the pie pan, fold under the excess, and crimp the border using a fork or your fingers. Cover it loosely and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 425°F at least 20 minutes before baking. Set an oven rack at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating.
Step 4
Line the pastry with parchment, pleating it as necessary so it fits into the pan, and fill it with rice or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment with the rice or beans. With a fork, prick the bottom and sides, and bake 5-10 minutes, or until the crust is pale golden. Check after 3 minutes and prick again if the upper layer of dough bubbles up.
Step 5
Cool the crust on a rack for 3 minutes, so it is no longer piping hot, then brush the bottom and sides with the egg white. Leave the oven on.
Make the filling:
Step 6
Cut the apricots in half and remove their pits.
Step 7
In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Add the apricots and toss to coat them. Allow them to macerate for about 15 minutes or until the dry mixture is fully moistened.
Step 8
Arrange the apricots decoratively in the baked shell, cut side up. Place a foil collar around the border to protect the edge from overbrowning and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the liquid bubbles and the apricots are tender when pierced with a skewer. Cool the pie on a rack until warm or room temperature.
Step 9
When the pie is cool, arrange the raspberries in the spaces between the aprictos.
Step 10
In a small saucepan or microwave oven, heat the apricot preserves until melted and bubbling. Strain them into a small cup. Use a pastry brush or the back of a spoon to paint the apricots and raspberries with the preserves.
Store:
Step 11
Room temperature, up to 3 days.
Understarnding:
Step 12
I do not use my usual technique of sugaring the fruit first and reducing the liquid because the condensing process caramelizes the juices slightly and the combination of the caramel and natural acidity of this particular fruit produces an undesirable bitterness.
