late summer dessert! peach melba

Beautifully fragrant, sweet and delicious. Perfect treat for a late summer evening.

Peach Melba

8 beautifully ripe and fragrant peaches

3 cups of water

3 cups of sugar

1 vanilla pod split in half.

1 lemon, juice

Raspberry sauce

1 punnet of raspberries

¼ cup of caster sugar

½ lemon juice

To serve

Your favourite store-bought Vanilla bean ice cream

Add the water, sugar, vanilla pod, and lemon juice to a heavy based pan and bring to the boil. Let it boil away for 5 minutes for the sugar to dissolve and the vanilla to infuse.

Turn down the heat to gentle simmer.

Cut the peaches in half and remove the stone. Gently add the peaches and cook for 10 minutes or until tender. Watch they don’t overcook them.

Remove the peaches with a slotted spoon and leave to cool. When cool enough to handle, you can slip the skins off easily. Very satisfying.

Turn the heat up on the syrup and cook vigorously for 10 minutes to reduce a little and intensify the lovely peachy flavour. Cool and then pour over your peaches and refrigerate.

For the raspberry sauce

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate.

To serve

Serve the peaches with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and the raspberry sauce in the prettiest bowls you can find.

Bon appetite