Pêche Peach Melba with Raspberry Coulis a Recipe for Stone Fruit Season
Dessert · Flans, Puddings · Let’s Eat the World · Provencal Recipes · TasteThe only problem with stone fruit (apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums) is that they all appear in the markets around the same time of year. What to do with the bounty of produce? Make dessert of course. Enjoy this easy recipe for Peach Melba – Pêche Melba with a raspberry coulis.
This dessert was created in honor of Dame Nellie Melba, famous opera singer from Australia. Her stage name, Melba, came from her home town, Melbourne, Australia. The dessert at the time was presented like this: A vanilla ice cream swan with half poached peach (for the wings), raspberry coulis to symbolize the sea, surmounted by a good amount of whipped cream and toasted almonds – all that in a silver cup. Today you’re not likely to see any swans but we will keep the same ingredients to do your fresh and tasty Pêche Melba!
Pêche Peach Melba
This dessert has several steps, but in reality is quick to make and even quicker to consume. Serve in glass dishes as the combination of colours is quite pretty. To save time, prepare your peaches the day before assembling your dessert.
Ingredients
- 2 Peaches fresh but firm - not fully ripe
- 100 g (3 oz) Sugar for the syrup
- 100 g (3 oz) Water for the syrup
- 1 vanilla pod for the syrup
- 100 g (3 oz) raspberries for the coulis
- 20 g (.75 oz) Sugar for the coulis
- 1/2 lemon juiced, for the coulis
- 8 scoops vanilla ice cream good quality
- 200 g (6 oz) whipping cream
- 50 g (2 oz) confectioners’ sugar
- 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
- 50 g (2 oz) almonds sliced and toasted
Instructions
Peeling and Poaching the peaches:
- Wash them well under cold water.
- Boil some water (enough to cover your peaches), in a large pan.
- Make a cross on the top part of the peach, just enough to cut the skin (we do the same for tomatoes when we want to peel them raw).
- Plunge the peaches from 30 seconds to one minute in the boiling water then remove them and plunge them in cold water (the colder, the better- feel free to use ice cubes if needed).
- Peel the peaches delicately without bruising the flesh. Cut them in half and remove the pit.
- In a saucepan, add cold water, sugar and the opened vanilla pods and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the halved peaches and cook for 10 minutes on low heat.
- Cool down and reserve in the fridge in the syrup.
- Make the Raspberry sauce (coulis): In a blender add all the ingredients for the raspberry coulis together and blend for a few seconds.
- Use a strainer to remove the seeds.
- Reserve in the fridge.
- Toasted the Almonds: In a hot oven (200ºC/400ºF), spread the sliced almonds and put them in the oven until they are golden brown. Keep in mind that the almonds will continue to brown even after you have removed them from the oven.
- Let cool down on the kitchen counter, don’t cover them.
Before serving:
- Whip the cream until it starts to be firm, add the vanilla extract and the sugar, whip a little more. No need for it to be very thick.
- Take the vanilla ice cream out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving.
- In a glass cup (just because it looks prettier), add 2 generous scoops of ice cream.
- Add half poached peach and a tablespoon of syrup.
- Add 2 tablespoons of raspberry sauce.
- Top with whip cream and almonds.
- Enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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