Red Velvet Apricot Glaze with a Hint of Ginger

In second grade I had a babysitter who insisted on trying to get us to eat apricot flavored fruit roll ups.  I was always willing to try new flavors but the tart, sticky taste of that made me vow to never eat another apricot as long as I lived….and I hadn’t until just today.

Memorial Day weekend signals the official start of summer for us.  In our local market,  the produce was all looking lovely and we may have overdone it with our purchases.  I came across red velvet apricots, which I had never heard of.  They looked much like a plum but red in color.  Temporarily forgetting my childhood vow I found myself putting four of them into our basket.

Once home I peeled them and cut them into chunks.  I also peeled and diced some fresh ginger with a plan to make a glaze for our chicken which we were hoping to have for Sunday lunch.

This recipe is super easy and turned out to be wonderful (in a subtle way) on our chicken.

Once the apricots were peeled and sliced into chunks I placed them into a heavy sauce pan with the diced ginger, a couple teaspoons of mustard powder, kosher salt and a splash of white wine.  I let this cook down until it was mushy and soft.

The cooked mixture was then passed through a sieve and put aside.

Once our chicken was nearly done cooking I pulled it from the oven and glazed the tops of the breasts with the apricot mixture.  It was popped back into the oven for about five more minutes to crisp up.

The final flavors were subtle and not at all tart like the memories I had of that apricot roll up.  The crispy chicken skin held the flavor of the fruit and was perfect for the first weekend of our summer kick off.