Roast Peaches with Sweet Wine, Clotted Cream and Caramelised Pistachios
When the fruits we buy have not ripened on a tree, roasting is a way of bringing out the most they can offer
The sensual pleasure of this combination of roasted peaches with clotted cream and caramelised pistachios is immense. Use ripe but not soft peaches.
Serves
4
Ingredients
- 4 peaches, unpeeled, cut in half and stones removed
- 120ml sweet white wine
- 60g caster sugar
- 60g pistachios
- 113g pot of clotted cream
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5.
- Arrange the peaches in a shallow baking dish, cut-sides up. Pour the sweet wine over them, so that a little settles in the hollows. Roast for about 30 minutes (the time depends on the size and ripeness of the fruit) until very tender when you pierce one with a pointed knife. Let them cool, then chill, covered, in the fridge.
- For the caramelised pistachios, line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Heat the sugar in a small pan over medium heat and watch it as it becomes liquid and gradually turns brown, the colour of dark honey. Don’t let it get too dark.
- Quickly put in the pistachios and stir until they are entirely coated with caramel, then pour onto the lined baking sheet. Leave to cool completely. When the caramel is cold, hard and brittle, lift it off the baking sheet and coarsely chop.
- To serve, spread some clotted cream over each half peach and sprinkle with caramelised pistachios.
Variations
• Instead of sweet wine, use dry white wine and 1–2 tablespoons sugar.
• Instead of clotted cream, use whipped cream or a good Greek-style yoghurt.
Extracted from Med by Claudia Roden (Ebury Press, £28). Photography by Susan Bell
