Apricots in wine with baked custard and almonds recipe 6 egg yolks 50g/1½ oz sugar Poached apricots 500ml/17fl oz Moscato d'Asti 2 tbsp good, floral honey 8 ripe apricots, halved and stoned Almonds 50g/1½ oz butter 60g/2 oz almonds, sliced lengthways in half ½ tsp salt Preheat the oven 160C/325F/gas 3. To make the custard, pour the milk and cream into a pan and scrape in the seeds from the vanilla pod.  Simmer gently for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Beat together the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. Very slowly pour the warmed milk and cream into the eggs, whisking constantly. Return the mix to the pan and place over a low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes, until thickened. Remove the vanilla pod. Pour into a 1-litre ovenproof dish that is at least 5cm deep (if it's too shallow, the custard will cook too quickly). Fold an old tea towel in half and place one on the bottom of a large roasting tin that will easily fit your ovenproof dish. Sit the custard dish on top of the tea towel (to prevent direct heat from the bottom of the oven) and pour the water from a boiling kettle around the sides of the dish to make a bain-marie - you want the water to come halfway up the sides. Very carefully take to the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until set in the middle. To test, insert a skewer into the middle - you want a little custard to cling to it. Remove the dish from the bain-marie and leave to cool. Combine the wine and honey in a saucepan and place over a low heat until the honey dissolves. Add the apricots and make sure they are fully submerged. Simmer for about 4 minutes until they are just tender. Transfer the apricots to a dish, then return the liquid to a medium heat and boil until reduced by half. To prepare the almonds, melt the butter in a small frying pan over a medium heat. When it just begins to bubble, add the almonds and stir, moving them constantly for 5 minutes until they begin to turn golden. Take off the heat and toss with the sugar and salt. Leave to cool for 5 minutes. Serve the apricots with a spoonful of custard and a sprinkling of almonds.