Put 100g of caster sugar in a deep saucepan with 500ml of water. Halve a small lemon and add it to the pan, then bring to the boil. Add 500g of apricots to the pan, let the syrup return to the boil, then lower the heat, partially cover the pan with a lid, and leave to simmer gently for about 15-20 minutes. The apricots are ready when soft and deep orange in colour. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the fruit to cool. When quite cool, split each apricot in half and remove the stones. Return the fruit to the syrup and chill thoroughly in the fridge. Whip 150g of double cream until thick, then fold in 200g of mascarpone and 3 tbsp of chopped pistachios. Put a large spoonful of each on 4 shallow dishes, then add a few apricots to each. For the toast, have 4 slices of bread ready – brioche or milk bread if you have it, but any good white bread will do. Melt a little butter in a shallow, nonstick pan over a moderate heat. When the butter has melted and is starting to froth, place the bread in the pan and let it turn gold on the underside, then flip it and continue cooking until golden. Add 1 tbsp of the apricot cooking liquor to each piece of toast and continue cooking for a minute or two, then remove from the pan and add a piece to each of the dishes and eat while the toast is hot and crisp. Enough for 4 The first Turkish apricots are in the shops now. If they evade you, do use tinned instead – they are one of the fruits that survive the canning process brilliantly. Sharpen their sweet syrup with a little lemon juice when you warm the fruit. Dried apricots are a good option here, too. Use the soft-dried variety in place of fresh. The cooking time will remain the same. If you prefer, add chopped pistachios to either vanilla ice-cream or thick yoghurt in place of the cream and mascarpone.