Coeur a La Creme With Apricot Sauce

2Bleu's Note:

You will need 1 large or 8 small coeur a la creme molds for this recipe. You can makeshift by gathering the La Creme in a cheesecloth and sticking a skewer thru the knot and hang it from a large measuring cup to get balls of La Creme. The presentation may not be as elegant, but the taste is still sure to please. Time does not inlude overnight refrigeration. Angelica is an aromatic and graceful herb. It is a member of the Parsley family, and is known mostly for it's candied stems for cake decorating, as well as the leaves for teas, tisanes, jams and desserts. It is known as 'Herb of the Angels' (hence the name) because it was believed to have ancient medicinal properties.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

La Creme

• 8 ounces neufchatel cheese, softened or 8 ounces cream cheese
• 8 ounces reduced-fat ricotta cheese
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon peel , grated
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup heavy cream , beaten to soft peaks

Apricot Sauce

• 1 lb dried apricot , diced
• ½ cup cherry , finely diced (glaceed)
• ½ cup angelica, finely diced or ½ cup citron
• 1 vanilla bean , split
• 2⁄3; cup sugar
• ¼ cup Galliano
• ¼ cup lemon juice

Directions:

1. LA CREME: In a large bowl combine well the cream cheese, ricotta, salt, sugar, lemon peel and vanilla. Fold in the heavy cream which has been beaten until soft peaks have formed.
2. Wet cheese cloth and squeeze out excess moisture. Line mold or molds with a double thickness of cheese cloth, cut large enough to fold back over filled mold.
3. Spoon cheese mixture into mold and fold the cheese cloth over the top. Place mold on a rack over a pan. Let it drain overnight in the refrigerator.
4. APRICOT SAUCE: Place apricots and vanilla bean in a saucepan with just enough boiling water to cover them. Let stand for 30 minutes.
5. Add the sugar and simmer the apricots for 40 minutes, stirring frequently, or until soft. Drain the fruits, discarding the vanilla bean and reserving the liquid, and transfer the fruits to a serving dish.
6. Add the cherries and Angelica to the liquid. Reduce cooking liquid until it is syrupy. Stir in the Galliano and lemon juice.
7. Pour hot syrup over fruit. Let cool, then chill covered until ready to serve.
8. TO SERVE: unwrap, invert, and unmold the La Creme onto a plate and spoon Apricot Sauce over the top.

Reviews

[kiwidutch]

This was RICH ! a small slice goes a long way, and it's filling too. We found that the cream probably makes this a little too heavy and I would be severely tempted to leave it out next time.. then again omitting it would maybe it would affect the taste too much. A tiny portion is really all we could manage so we finished it over several days. Serve this to a crowd and it will go a long way. I hunted high and low for Galliano and couldn't find it anywhere... seems liquour shops in NL no longer stock it. DH won't eat glace cherries so I left those out and concentrated on the apricots. I wanted the sauce to have some extra umph so slipped in some Contreau instead and the sauce was heavenly.... Please see my rating system: 4 stars mostly for the sauce becuase we found the actual Coeur a little too rich... but in the end.. yes it went very well together and the sauce made the dish. I love the linear patterns in the Coeur that the muslin makes too LOL. Thanks!