Peach Melba: Vanilla-Poached Peaches with Raspberry Sauce and Ice Cream
Inspired by techniques from Serious Eats.
Ripe peaches poached in a light honey, lemon and vanilla syrup, peeled and served with vanilla ice cream and a bright raspberry sauce.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Make the raspberry sauce. Put the raspberries, 120 ml water, 90 g sugar and 1 tsp lemon juice in the medium pan. Simmer for 10-12 min, stirring now and then, until the berries have fully collapsed. Press the mixture through the sieve into the bowl with the back of a spoon, scrape the underside of the sieve, discard the seeds and leave to cool.
- 2
Make the poaching syrup. In the wide pan combine the 1000 ml water, 300 g sugar, honey, 4 tbsp lemon juice and vanilla. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
- 3
Score the peaches. With the small knife cut a shallow cross in the base of each peach. This lets the skins slip off cleanly after poaching.
- 4
Poach and chill. Lower the peaches into the syrup, reduce the heat and simmer for about 6 min, turning them once, until a knife tip slides in with little resistance. Very ripe fruit may need only 3-4 min. Lift them straight into the iced water for 5 min to stop the cooking.
- 5
Peel and halve. Peel the skins back from the cross; they should come away easily. Cut each peach in half along the seam, twist the halves apart and lift out the stone, keeping each half neat and whole.
- 6
Assemble. Set 2 peach halves, cut side up, in each chilled bowl. Add a scoop of ice cream and spoon 2-3 tbsp raspberry sauce over the top. Serve at once.
Storage
Poached peaches keep covered in a little of their syrup in the fridge for up to 2 days; the sauce keeps 4 days. Assemble only when serving.
EU nutrition claims
- Low salt: 0.12 g salt per 100 g (limit ≤ 0.3 g)
- Source of fibre: 2.2 g fibre per 100 kcal (needs ≥ 1.5 g)
Per 100 g of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 130 g a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Free sugars
38.1 g per serving
76.2 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 152.4 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- medium saucepan
- fine sieve
- bowl
- large wide saucepan
- slotted spoon
- large bowl of iced water
- small sharp knife
- ice-cream scoop
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 345 kcal |
| Protein | 5.1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 63.4 g |
| of which sugars | 54 g |
| of which free sugars | 38.1 g |
| Fat | 9.7 g |
| of which saturates | 5.5 g |
| Fibre | 7.7 g |
| Salt | 0.16 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
1.5 g High Protein needs ≥ 5 g (20% of energy)
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
