Apricots All Dressed Up

10–12 apricots, diced

1⁄2 cup sugar

juice of 1 lemon

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped, or 1 tbsp good quality vanilla sugar

4–5 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

large pinch of freshly ground black pepper 

Place the apricots in a bowl with the sugar and lemon juice. Let sit for 20–30 minutes.

Add the seeds from the vanilla bean or vanilla sug- ar. Add basil leaves and black pepper, and mix. Spoon over vanilla ice cream.