Peach Melba
When I dropped into the greengrocers on Wednesday, I spotted some beautiful golden peaches and simply could not resist. That has to be one of the best things about buying from a local greengrocers; you can actually see the fruit rather than trying to peer at it through lots of plastic wrapping. I also like to smell the fruit I am buying, it helps me know how fresh and ripe it is. Whenever I buy fruit in the supermarket, I get a lot of funny looks as I try to find the little holes in the packet for me to sniff through!!
I wanted to do something as simple as possible with the peaches because I wanted their sunshine flavour to sing out, so decided upon Peach Melba. This is the straightforward process of boiling the peaches in a sugar syrup and serving them with fresh raspberry sauce and an ample dollop of vanilla ice-cream.
Peach Melba
1 litre of water
500g caster sugar
4 ripe peaches
1 tbsp lemon juice
150g fresh raspberries
Vanilla ice cream to serve
Cut a small cross into the base of each of the peaches, this will make them easier to peel later.
Put the sugar and water in a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.
Reduce the heat and gently place the peaches into the saucepan and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until cooked through (depends on how ripe the peaches are).
Once the peaches are cooked, remove the peaches from the sugar syrup and leave to cool.
Keep the sugar syrup on the heat and keep it simmering until it has reduced and thickened (this will take about 15 minutes)
Meanwhile, whizz the raspberries in a food processor until you have a sauce. Pass this through a sieve into a clean bowl to remove the tiny seeds. To the raspberry sauce, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 5 tablespoons of the thickened sugar syrup.
Peel the skin from the cooled poached peaches to reveal the wonderful blush yellow peach flesh.
When you are ready to serve, gather 4 dishes or glasses and put a good dollop of vanilla ice-cream into the bottom. Place a whole poached peach on top of the ice-cream and finish with a drizzle of the raspberry sauce. Serves 4.
I think you will agree that this looks like summer in a glass with those wonderful colours. Definitely one to try whilst the peaches are in season and I think, a great way to embrace the summer. Enjoy!
