Recipe: Peach melba

A sublime and classic dessert that belies its simplicity. Serve in pretty stemmed glasses or tumblers for a refined presentation accompanied by Almond Shortbread. This dessert should be reserved for juicy, ripe in-season peaches, but if for some reason they aren't as flavorful as you'd like, sprinkle the peaches with a little sugar and a few drops of liqueur such as kirsch, Cognac, or use a white dessert wine such as Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, which would also go very nicely with it.

Ingredients

    1 pint raspberries
    ½ cup sugar
    6 ripe peaches
    About 1 pint vanilla ice cream
    Almond Shortbread (page 214)

Instructions

1 Combine half of the raspberries, the sugar, and 1 tablespoon water in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar melts and the mixture comes to a boil, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and fold in the remaining raspberries and transfer to a bowl to cool. (This can be made several days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.)

2 Cut a shallow X into the bottom of each peach with a paring knife. Plunge the peaches into boiling water for about 30 seconds (or until the skins loosen), and then into ice water. Slip off the skins and cut each peach into 6 to 8 slices.

3 To serve, place 1 sliced peach in each of 6 stemmed glasses or tumblers. Place about ¼ cup raspberry sauce on top, and top with one generous scoop of ice cream. Serve immediately with Almond Shortbread.

Serves 6

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From Recipes: A Collection for the Modern Cook. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.  Copyright © 2005 by Susan Spungen.  All rights reserved.  Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

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