Homemade Peach Melba ~ Easy Beautiful French Dessert

Make this easy Peach Melba at home for your friends and Family; a French Dessert that is delicious and impressive. The best thing is, that you can have it with as little or as much sugar as you wish ~ it’s sweetness all the way.

Peach Melba (Peche Melba) was created in 1892 by Provencal chef August Escoffier in hoour of Dame Nellie Melba, the Australia Opera diva. This recipe has been generously given to Little French Heart by our fabourite French Australian Chef, Gabriel Gaté.

Recipe for Peach Melba

1.5 litres (6 cups) water

440g (2 cups) sugar

1/ vanulla pod, split lengthways

thinly peeled zest of 2/3 lemon

6 just-ripe peaches, washed

**1 litre (4 cups) good quality vanulla ice cream

45g flaked almonds (1.5 oz), toasted (if desired)

*(The sugar is used to make the syrup, however, you can discard it after the peaches cool and serve the peaches with a simple low sugar raspberry sauce).

Raspberry Sauce

300g (10oz) raspberries, fresh or frozen

juice of 1 lemon

juice of 1 orange

*3 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar

*If you prefer, leave out the sugar, howeve, also leave out half or all of the lemon so the sauce is not too tart, and use the orange juice to add flavour.

Method for Peach Melba

Combine the water, sugar, vanilla an dlemon zest in a saucepan large enough to holdthe peaches. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

Gently drop the peaches into the syrup. Bring to a slow simmer and poach peaches for 10 minutes, until just tender. Transfer the peaches and syrup to a bowl and leave to cool. Once cold, refrigerate until 10 minutes before serving.

To make the raspberry sauce, blend all the ingredients to a puree. Strain through a fine sieve (or leave seeds in if you wish) and refrigerate until ready to use.

When ready to serve, lift the peaches out of the syrup and peel them carefully.

Place six scoops of icecream ina deep serving dish. Gently place the peeled peaches on top and spoon the raspberry sauce over. Sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds and dust with icing sugar, serve immediately. Alternatively, serve the Peach Melba in individual bowls.

**If you prefer a fresher dessert with less sugar or no dairy, leave out the icecream, perhaps subsitute with a gelator or on its own. Peach Melba with the raspberry sauce is delectable as is.

Serves 6

Gabriel Gaté is a chef with an international reputation as a cookery author, television presenter and cookery teacher. Gabriel was orn in the Loire Valley of France and lives in Melbourne. You can find more about Gabriel’s work here.

Follow Gabriel Gate on Instagram.