Recipe: Charred Apricots, Burrata and Sourdough Paired With an Apricot and Thyme Spritz

When it comes to hosting (and actually enjoying) brunch, take tips from the professionals and don’t shoot for the moon. “It’s more about spending time with family and friends rather than trying to impress them and act like you’re Jamie Oliver,” says Ethan Smart, head chef at Bondi’s Rocker.

“I think it’s important to try and keep it simple. The food’s important but, with brunch, the idea is to have drinks with your friends and eating is kind of second.”

This pair of brunch recipes opts for approachability and simple preparation – letting the fresh summer apricots do the talking.

The sourdough, burrata and apricot jam is deceptively simple and puts the focus squarely on the apricots. A good loaf of bread is the place to start. Rocker sources sourdough from Iggy’s, but go with what you know. “Going out of your way and going that little step further away from big supermarkets to pick up a nice loaf of bread is important,” says Smart.

The king of this dish is the apricot jam, which uses barbeque-charred apricots for added complexity. “It’s called a jam but I think it’s important to make sure it doesn’t look like a jam,” he says. “It’s more about using the sugar to preserve the shape of the apricot. You grill the apricots and then that holds them in their shape and it starts caramelising the sugars.” When making the jam, Smart recommends pulling back before the apricots start to break down too much – you want to have identifiable pieces of apricot remaining. You can make this a few days in advance, too, to make things easy on the day.

With the jam made, all you need to do is plate and serve. Add a few generous dollops in a serving bowl, top with burrata and garnish with some toasted almonds. Serve with pan-toasted sourdough on the side.

Then there's the spritz. Brunch cocktails need to play both sides of the fence: approachable – but you still want to know you’re drinking a cocktail. Like the mains, the star of this spritz is market-fresh apricots, which are skinned, pitted and blended with a 1:1 sugar syrup – that’s one part water to one part sugar, if you’re making it at home.

Spritzes are normally built in the glass (in this case, a large wine glass) but shaking the apricot, vodka and lemon together will create consistency. Shake it up, pour it into the glass, top it up with prosecco and and garnish it with dehydrated lemon wheel and thyme sprig.

Here's how to make the burrata and charred apricot jam on sourdough, paired with the summer thyme spritz, at home.

Burrata and charred apricot jam on sourdough

Serves 2-4 (as a starter)

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1kg fresh apricots, washed and halved, stones removed

800g brown sugar

1 lemon

2 bunches of thyme

80g shaved almonds

Good olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Flaky salt

1 sourdough loaf

100g La Stella Burrata

Method

Put a large non-stick pan on high heat and place the apricot halves face down. Flip the apricots once you've got a dark char mark and repeat on the other side.

Once apricots are coloured, place them into a pot suitable for making jam. Add the brown sugar, 2 sprigs of thyme and the zest and juice of one lemon to the pot. On low heat, slowly melt the sugar into the apricots, stirring occasionally. You want this jam to be chunky so only cook it for 5-10 minutes. Try not to break down the apricots too much. Once done, set aside to cool in a container or sterilised jar.

While the jam is cooling, set your oven to 150°C and lightly toast the shaved almonds – you want an even brown on all of them.

In a small mixing bowl, add the toasted almonds to 100ml of olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, leaves from 1 bunch of thyme and a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Once the jam is cooled, toast your sourdough, preferably in a pan with a good amount of olive oil. Once the bread is ready you can start plating.

Add 3 generous tablespoons of the jam to a serving bowl. Place the burrata on top, then carefully spoon your oil mix over the top of the burrata, making sure to get lots of almonds on top. Sprinkle some flaky salt on top and serve with your toasted sourdough.

Summer thyme spritz 

Makes 1 serving – approximately 2 standard drinks

Ingredients

50ml vodka

2 medium apricots, pitted and skinned

100ml simple syrup

20ml lemon juice

Prosecco

Dehydrated lemon (optional)

Thyme (optional)

Method

To make the apricot pureé, blitz the apricots with the simple syrup. Adjust sweetness to taste.

In a shaker add Grey Goose Vodka, 25ml apricot purée and the lemon juice. Shake vigorously.

Fine strain into an iced spritz glass and top with prosecco. Garnish with dehydrated lemon and a thyme sprig.