The lovely Peach Melba or pêche Melba |
Auguste Escoffier, the famous French chef, gets the credit for pairing two of summer’s most delicious fruits, peaches and raspberries, to create his classic peach Melba dessert. Escoffier created his famous dessert in honor of Nellie Melba, a famous Australian Opera singer in the 1800’s. French Fridays with Dorie gets the credit for us making it this week. A perfect dessert for a summer evening! Peaches are at their peak, sweet and delectable! The raspberries are from my garden. I’m picking about a pint daily!
This recipe, while easy enough, was a bit time consuming. If you make the components in stages, you can put it together quickly! First, plunge your peaches into boiling water for twenty seconds, then put them into ice water. The skin will peel off easily. Then make your syrup with sugar, water, lemon peel, and a vanilla bean. If you choose, you can add some lemon verbena leaves to the syrup. I had lemon balm so I used that! You then poach your peaches in the syrup. Refrigerate until cool or ready to use. Done!! Oh, and some Chambord, or creme de cassis…which I forgot!!
Poached peaches |
Putting this lovely sundae together was very easy. A teaspoon of poaching liquid in the bottom of your dish, one of those lovely poached peaches, a scoop of ice cream (I used my homemade peach ice cream), another peach half, raspberry puree drizzled over all of this, garnish with fresh raspberries and sliced almonds. I left out the whipped cream…we really are trying to cut back!!
This was a delicious sundae…but then, what could be bad about an ice cream sundae! Happy Friday everyone!!
To all my French Friday friends….Happy 100th!! It’s been a pleasure!!
This recipe can be found in Dorie Greenspans’ cookbook "Around My French Table”. You can also find this recipe here. To see what the other Doristas' are doing you can check it our here.
This looks like red paint…but honestly it’s my raspberry puree! |
This was luscious! |
What could be bad about a dish of peaches, raspberries and ice cream?? Nothing! |
Beautiful! I haven't made mine yet but I'm really excited to now after reading your post! How nice that you could pick the raspberries right from your yard, I'm jealous!
ReplyDeleteLuscious is a GREAT way to describe this dessert!
ReplyDeleteWow Kathy, you never fail to amaze me with your kitchen skills. Home made peach ice cream, hand picked from your garden berries, etc etc. It looks fabulous and you answered a 51 yr old question I always forget to ask, how to peel those darn peaches, now I know. Wish I lived closer so I could eat some of your creations, gorgeous pictures.
ReplyDeleteFantastic looking... I wonder what the difference in flavor is from just the lemon zest to using the lemon balm???
ReplyDeleteKathy, your Peach Melba looks delicious:) What beautiful raspberries you have in your garden. Not only are you and amazing cook, you are also a great gardener.
ReplyDeleteWow - the raspberry bounty sounds like a real treat.
ReplyDeleteYour dessert looks lovely & I am glad to hear you were able to make everyone happy with your choice of appliances. (We have similar issues in my house - big blender, little blender, food processor, immersion blender - but somehow, they each seem to have their use).
Just gorgeous, Kathy! Next time I'm going to cut the peaches in half, too.
ReplyDeleteI have so enjoyed getting to know you & hope we'll meet in person one day. I love your family recipes and, of course, everything from your garden.
Our carrots & beets are almost ready - tomatoes are so slow with the unusually cool spring & summer we've had here, but they're on their way.
Have a lovely weekend!
Dear Kathy, This looks wonderful. That is so nice to be picking a pint of raspberries everyday. I bet there are so many delicious recipes you are coming up with for those berries.
ReplyDeleteLovely dessert.
Have a beautiful weekend. Blessings dear. Catherine xo
Kathy, what a beautiful presentation - your Peach Melba looks fresh, summery, awfully delicious and elegant. So glad that you liked it so much, it was a nice and easy and a wonderful recipe and the kids just adored it too!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
I'm just loving how pretty this presents! I have that Magic Bullet also...and bought it with the extra one too! My son loves to use it for milkshakes and like you, if I have something small to process, out it comes! So glad to see you used it for this, I'll keep that in mind.
ReplyDeleteWonderful dessert Kathy. It´s so great to have met you and your blog through this group! Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteKathy- these peach sundaes look so scrumptious! I loved making peach melba, can't believe it was my first time but that's one of the thing I love about cooking along with the FFWD group- it does push us out of our routine cooking schedule, that's for sure! I wish I was your neighbor, I would be outside with a basket in hand, just hoping to catch a few raspberries that you weren't using that day;-)
ReplyDeleteI would gladly share the overabundance of my raspberries with you…sorry you’re so far away!
DeleteBeautiful job, Kathy and Happy 100th French Friday!It's been a pleasure reading your posts - here's to the next 200!
ReplyDeleteYou are right, absolutely nothing wrong with all of this!! Yours is beautiful...I was working on lighting, obviously not that successfully, but it's proof I did make it...two in a row, what a deal! Love your Magic Bullet story! Have a great weekend...I'm going for three in a row next week, I have the ingredients and everything. I'm trying to be you when I grow up! xo
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I would love a spoon and an invitation so I can dig in. What a wonderful dessert!
ReplyDeleteYour dessert looks so yummy! Really enjoyed it too, especially the syrup. Happy 100th, Happy Friday!
ReplyDeleteI have forgotten many things in my day, but never the booze component! ; ) Glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteI agree that this one took some time, but it sure was worth it in the end. Delicious!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great combo!
ReplyDeleteThis looks fantastic over ice cream! Great post!
ReplyDeleteYour peach melba is a triumph - so summery and vibrant.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely mouth watering love it!
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful, Kathy! Happy 100 to you, too :)
ReplyDeleteKathy, Is the Magic Bullet like the Ninja? I think from th picture, it's the same thing. Like you, I have all the playthings but purchased a Ninja when I started FFWD and sometimes didn't need the Big Guns. I used the Ninja for the raspberry sauce also. And, you go Girl, it takes so little to keep the guys happy, just go with it. Since we've always been a house of early-to-bed and up-at-5am, I've never seen an infomercial. (If there's anything your husband thinks I should have, and he can get it (for me) for 1/2 price, he can go for it.) On the other hand......maybe not. I think you're right about the Peach Melba. We Americans don't make it often because it's a long process, so to speak. We're too hurried. Although I'd enjoyed Peach Melba 5 or 6 times, I had never made it. That will change because it is, as you say, such a delicious dessert. It's a nice milestone, 100, for the FFWD group. On to the next 100. I'm still admiring your cooking through the 50 women/culinary greats and now were moving on to the Dorie 100.
ReplyDeleteLooks wonderful, so light and summery! I will be making it today or tomorrow, so can't wait to try it! Too funny about the Magic Bullet. Happy 100 recipes!
ReplyDeleteThis melba looks like one gorgeous dessert my friend :D
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love it!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
what a great photo love peach anything this looks scrumptious!
ReplyDeleteWe all enjoyed the peach melba, but I really enjoyed poaching the peaches. It was so much easier than I thought
ReplyDeleteit would. I'm going to take advantage of all the peaches now before the season is over and poach to my heart's
content. Your melba looks great, and your photos are lovely. Have a great weekend.
This is totally beautiful and your photo is delicious. I do plan to make it. Love the peaches and raspberries together.
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful peach melba, and photos, as well! I remember when peach melba was such a sensation in the eighties. Love the peach melba, and will have to 'google' what's a Magic Bullet? I used to buy so much stuff from QVC and HSN home shopping network when I would be watching them late at night...even had a QVC credit card. Now I rarely watch those shows, but when I do, surely something will catch my eye...to order by phone; LOL
ReplyDeleteyay for the magic bullet! we love ours!! wasnt the raspberry sauce to die for??? :)
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy. Your peach melba looks great. The fresh raspberries on top really make it special. We're in between the summer and fall crop right now, so I used frozen berries for my sauce (from my garden, though). I really loved this dessert. Happy 100th! I've enjoyed getting to know you through these recipes.
ReplyDeleteI love the colours and the flavours... it looks like a perfect summer treat. Peaches and raspberries really appeals to me.
ReplyDeleteThis looks fantastic. I would love to be eating this for lunch today.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! Perfect use for your fresh-picked raspberries.
ReplyDelete