Honey poached apricots with vanilla cardamom panna cotta

Fresh apricots are a gift and their season is short. I found beautiful apricots for $1 a pound, so of course I bought a lot. I ate most of the fruit plain, but I needed a way to savor the rest, so I made this light, creamy and virtually fat free recipe for late night desserts on a summer night. As you can see in the photo, the panna cotta is very tender and hardly holds up the weight of an apricot. It is just meltingly beautiful.

Ingredients:

For the poached apricots:

1½ cups water

½ cup honey

½ of a vanilla bean split and seeds scraped

A pinch of powdered cardamom

8 fresh apricots cut in half and seeds removed

For the panna cotta:

½ cup skim milk

1 (.25 ounce) packet of unflavored gelatin

2 cups fat free half and half

½ of a vanilla bean split and seeds scraped

½ teaspoon powdered cardamom

½ cup granulated sugar

Directions:

For the poached apricots: In a medium saucepan, heat the water, honey, the scraped seeds and pod of the ½ vanilla bean, and the pinch of cardamom to a boil. Drop in the apricot halves and cook, uncovered, for 8 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

For the panna cotta:

In a small bowl, stir together the ½ cup skim milk and gelatin. Stir and let sit.

Spray 4 small (6 ounce) ramekins with vegetable oil spray and set aside.

In a large saucepan, stir together the half and half, sugar, vanilla seeds and pod, cardamom and sugar over medium heat. Bring to a full boil. Pour the gelatin mixture into the pan, stirring until completely dissolved. Cook for one more minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, remove the vanilla pod, and pour into your prepared ramekins.

Cool the ramekins uncovered at room temperature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

To unmold, dip the bottoms of the ramekins in very warm water for a few seconds and run a thin knife around the edge. Place a plate on top of the ramekin, and shake up and down for a second or two. With the plate on the bottom and ramekin on top, remove the ramekin and the panna cotta should slide right out onto the plate.

Serve each portion of panna cotta with 2 or 3 apricot halves.