A true summer treat - Sweet Apricot and Basil Toast

This is no lazy summer, oh no, I’m going back and forth between Tuscany and Milan, shooting part one of two Christmas catalogues I’m working on and on Monday we leave for Sweden, something I really am looking forward to because last summer we didn’t go and I feel that I need a bit of refuelling in my motherland now and then. Although I have by now completely adapted to being a person without any particular roots, it feels good to come back to where I was born and where I just can speak without having to search for words and without feeling that I probably am expressing my thoughts in an awkward manner. And where people immediately understand what I am talking about because we share the same cultural background (we have read the same books and seen the same programs when we were young, we lived through the same historical moments and happenings - I could go on with a long list of the things you suddenly realize are important for communication when you live abroad for a longer time) although there are now so much of new factors of cultural context that I have completely missed out on since I left 17 years ago that I feel like a foreigner at times. But above all, I am looking forward to see my friends, the ones I can’t do without in my life despite I rarely see or speak to them but by now we are used to that and being true friends, we don’t need to always be communicating in order to enjoy meeting, we just go on where we left and that it is.

The Christmas job is more fun than I thought it would be because this year we have had time to find appropriate props and think about the mood of it all; last year we had to shoot it all in record time and it is a freaking wonder that we managed to do it and that what we managed to produce actually increased the sales with 40% as I was told the other day! I’m shooting a more Scandinavian Christmas atmosphere and I am very happy about that and also grateful that I’m given such a lot of creative freedom as I am, that kind of trust really spurs me on to give my best and to do my best within the limits I am given because I obviously have to think in a more commercial way than when I work with editorial photography. And talking about that, this month my first job with Sale&Pepe is out, one of the most important food magazines here in Italy and I am very happy to be on that team as well. So as you can see, my working life is pretty good at the moment but that also means that my blogging life does suffer a bit unfortunately.

But I do have a really nice recipe to post, I have been sitting on it for quite a while now but now it is about time to post it otherwise the apricots will be out of season. You don’t need many ingredients to make this but that suits me (as you probably might have noticed here on Lucullian) because I don’t believe you need that many ingredients to make a really tasty dish.

SWEET APRICOT AND BASIL TOAST
4 servings /12 small toasts

10 mature and sweet apricots
1 baguette, preferably not too fresh
24 fresh basil leaves, less if the leaves are very big
sugar
salted butter

Rinse the apricots, divide them in halves and take out the stone, then proceed to slicing them thinly. Cut 12 of the basil leaves into thin, thin strips, try to keep each leaf separate to make it easier to compose the toasts later.

Slice the baguette into 24 1 cm / 0,4 in thick slices.

Start making the toasts: line up 12 slices of baguette, then put 2-3 slices of apricot on each bread slice, the amount depends on how thin the slices are. Put the basil strips on top on each toast and then put another slice of baguette on top and press slightly to make it adhere.

Melt the butter in a non-stick pan and start frying the double toasts until golden, taking them out and turning them in sugar that you have put on plate beforehand.

Decorate with a basil leaf, stick a toothpick through the leaf and the toast and serve!