If you can get a pan hot enough, but not too hot, fruit will positively melt into a lovely semi-soft consistency, its natural sugars caramelizing just a touch. Naturally soft, tender fruits, like stonefruit and berries, yield themselves beautifully to this technique, with apricots being a favorite.
I start first by warming butter in a hot pan until it froths and foams, before tossing the apricots into the pan until they just begin to soften, their edges melting into one another and their skins blistering in the heat ever so slightly. Then I pull them from the pan, top them with sweet, lusciously red raspberries and a dusting of ground pistachios which gives the dessert a lovely creaminess.
I serve the apricots and raspberries on their own, in little dessert bowls, though a drizzle of honey and dollop of whipped cream or Greek-style yogurt can provide a nice pairing.
