Roasted Winter Fruits with Yoghurt

, from Issue #25. September, 2015
Photography by Aaron McLean.
Roasted Winter Fruits with Yoghurt

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

Fruit
2 pears, halved, cored and cut into 3
200 grams dried figs
200 grams prunes
20 dried apricots
1⁄2 cup dried cranberries
1 1⁄2 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar
zest and juice 1 lemon
1⁄2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 mandarins, peeled and segmented
1-2 persimmons, peeled and cut into wedges

Yoghurt
1 cup thick plain yoghurt
2 tablespoons brown sugar

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200 ̊C.

Combine all the fruit ingredients, except the mandarins and persimmons, in a baking dish and turn to coat. Lift the pear slices to sit on top of the dried fruits so they take on colour and don’t stew in the juices. Roast for 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Stir in the mandarins and persimmons, adding a little more water if most of the liquid has evaporated. Cook for a further 5 minutes.

Yoghurt: Spread the yoghurt on a shallow serving plate and sprinkle over the brown sugar. Leave 10 minutes for the brown sugar to melt then swirl through the yoghurt.

To serve: Transfer the fruit to a shallow bowl and serve with the yoghurt. The fruit can be served warm or at room temperature.

The roasted fruits can be cooked 3 days head. Add a little water to the dish when reheating. Leftover fruit is delicious for breakfast with porridge, cereal or yoghurt.