There is one fail safe person to turn to, when the desire to nurse a gluttonous desire unfurls, and that person is unmistakeably Nigella. My mum and I have spend uncountable afternoons in front of the telly, watching her legitimise all those feelings for food, in her trademarked descriptive kind of way. One of her such tantalising scripts contained references to ‘blushing cheeks’ and what not, but trust me, when you make this super easy desert, your guests wont be blushing at all, but lining up for seconds!
Exquisite, light, perfectly balances with the sweetness of the peaches, tartness of the raspberry sauce and the creaminess of the ice cream, created by Escoffier (on whom I read this book) way back in the 1890’s. Truly a classic desert, summer time treat and probably the best way to eat your fruit everyday!
Adapted from Nigella. Serves 6.
Ingredients:
- 500ml water
- 300 gm caster sugar
- 1 vanilla pod, slit
- 5-6 drops of lime juice
- 3 peaches, halved and cored
- 150gm fresh or frozen raspberry ( I used frozen)
- 2 tbs icing sugar
- 1 ltr tub of vanilla ice cream
Method:
- Place the water, sugar, lime juice and vanilla pod into a wide saucepan on medium heat. Stirring to ensure that the sugar dissolves, bring the pan to the boil and let it bubble away for about 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to a fast simmer.
- Poach the peach halves in the sugar syrup for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until they are soft, and then remove to a plate with a slotted spoon.
- When all the peaches are poached, peel off their skins and let them cool.
- To make the raspberry sauce, blend together the raspberries and icing sugar. I found that the Indian raspberries a bit too tart, and added 1-2 tbs of the poaching liquid to the blender. Once smooth the ruby coloured, pour into a jug. and leave to chill in the refrigerator.
- To assemble the peach melba, allow one peach half per person and sit them in a transparent glass/plastic bowl, dolloped with a scoop or two of ice cream. Spoon the raspberry sauce over each one, and put the remaining sauce in a jug for people to add themselves at the table.
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Feedback:
- This is a classic desert, that is both appealing to the eyes and the palate. You can make this upto a day in advance, just pour some of the cooled poaching syrup to the peaches.
- You can also store the poaching syrup with the vanilla pod, by popping into the freezer once cooled. So all you need to do the next time is place the peaches in it and make the raspberry sauce!
- I had a bit of leftover raspberry sauce, which SS has been graciously consuming atop vanilla ice cream for the past few days 🙂
