National Peach Melba Day

Peach Melba Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Poached Peaches:

2 cups water

1 ½ - 2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you prefer it)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract Half a cinnamon stick 3 whole cloves 3 peaches

For the Raspberry Sauce:

6 oz. fresh raspberries

¼ cup sugar Splash of Chambord

To Assemble the Peach Melba:

Vanilla ice cream, as needed

Poached peaches

Raspberry sauce

Mint leaves for garnish

How To Prepare:

For the Poached Peaches:

Combine all of the ingredients except the peaches in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer, whisking as needed to melt the sugar.

Cut the peaches in half vertically, working you knife around the pit in the center. Then you must remove the pit. If the peaches are hard and unripe this can be tricky. After cutting them, you may need to grab each side and twist hard to separate the halves. I then take a small narrow knife and cut around the pit as much as possible. Then with a teaspoon, or ideally a grapefruit spoon, I gently pry out the pit without breaking the peach flesh. Of course you can escape all this drama by employing ripe peaches.

Add the peach halves to the poaching liquid. Place a small plate or the lid from a small pot on top of them to keep them submerged. Poach them until tender. The time will vary on the ripeness of the peaches. Unripe peaches will take about ten minutes, give or take. Riper peaches will take less. Periodically check for doneness by inserting a small knife or fork into them.

Remove the peaches and chill them or simply leave them in the syrup in the fridge to cool. The syrup can be used for other fruit, ice cream, pancakes, etc. You can simmer it further, sans peaches, to increase its thickness.

For the Raspberry Sauce:

Rinse the raspberries and whiz them in a food processor until pureed. Scrape them out into a small saucepan. Whisk in the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for five minutes, a little longer for a thicker sauce.

Finish by whisking in a splash of Chambord and simmering briefly. (Chambord is a delicious raspberry liqueur from France). Work the sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl to remove the seeds.

Give it a final stir and cool.

To Assemble the Peach Melba:

Add some vanilla ice cream to a bowl. Place one or two peach halves on top. Drizzle with some of the raspberry sauce. Top with a mint leaf for garnish.