Five Ingredient Friday: Peach Melba

You know what’s the worse thing? When you totally have ingredients for something, only to find that something much much later…like days or weeks later, after you have greedily consumed those ingredients for fear they would get abducted by fungus. You are lost now, I know. The thing is, I had beautiful ripe peaches last week. But I detest peaches! I despise peaches. I hate plums more, but still, peaches were never welcome and definitely never invited to any party in my mouth. Just as I can only eat tart strawberries in a smoothie, peaches are just too much for me to handle by themselves. Sometimes I get the sour ones, other times they are perfectly sweet, but just not on the same level as my palette. But if someone were to tell me I could practically boil them alive and have it end up as like the best ice cream sundae dessert ever, oh, I would be there like Cher! So here’s to hoping today’s five ingredient feast changes some minds like it did mine. And if you don’t have any peaches in the house, be brave and grab one from your local farmer cart on the way home. Trust me, five minutes later you will not need any reassurance.

Peach Melba

adapted via Nigella Feasts on Food Network

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups water

5 peaches, halved & de-stoned

2 cups white sugar (caster preferred)

1 tsp vanilla essence (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)

2 tbsp lemon juice

Optional Raspberry Sauce:

(use this, or ready made sauce. Um warm dulce de leche anyone?)

3 cups raspberries

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method:

Put the water, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla pod into a wide saucepan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Bring the pan to the boil and let it bubble away for about 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to a fast simmer.

Cut the peaches in half, and if the stones come out easily then remove them, if not then you can get them out later. Poach the peach halves in the sugar syrup for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side depending on the ripeness of the fruit. Test the cut side with the sharp point of a knife to see if they are soft, and then remove them to a plate with a slotted spoon.

When all the peaches are poached, peel off their skins and let them cool (then you can remove any remaining stones). If you are making them a day in advance then let the poaching syrup cool and then pour into a dish with the peaches. Otherwise just bag up the syrup and freeze it for the next time you poach peaches.

To make the raspberry sauce, liquidize the raspberries, confectioners’ sugar, and lemon juice in a blender or a food processor. Sieve to remove the pits and pour the puree into a jug.

To serve, be generous (not greedy!) and dish out your favorite flavor ice cream along with two peach halves per person. Spoon the raspberry sauce or sauce of your choice over each half. Voila!