Serves 4

Components

Perfectly Ripe Peaches

Raspberries in sauce

Vanilla ice cream

Vanilla panna cotta

Raspberry sugar shards

Fresh Peach Slices

1. Prepare a bowl of iced water.
2. Score a cross into the base of a ripe peach with a sharp knife.
3. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and plunge the peach into it for 20 seconds.
4. Remove the peach and drop it into the bowl of iced water to cool down and prevent overcooking.
5. Remove the peach and using a small knife, lift the skin off the peach revealing the flesh.
6. Cut the peach in half and discard the stone.

Tip: The peaches must be ripe to ensure the skins come off easily after poaching.

Raspberries in sauce

350g Raspberries

½ Vanilla pod, seeds scraped

½ Lemon juice

20g Icing sugar

1. Place 150g of the raspberries, the vanilla, lemon juice and icing sugar into a blender and blitz until smooth. Pass the mixture through a sieve onto the remaining raspberries and refrigerate.

Vanilla panna cotta

175ml Cream

75ml Milk

2 Gelatine, gold leaves

30g Caster sugar

½ Vanilla pod, seeds scraped

1. Soak the gelatine.
2. Place the milk, sugar and vanilla into a saucepan and gently heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatine.
3. Add the cream to the pan, stir and pass through a sieve into a small, clean plastic container. Leave to set in the fridge for two hours.

Raspberry sugar shards

200g Caster sugar

75ml Water

tbsp Glucose syrup

Freeze dried raspberries

1. Place the sugar and water into a small saucepan and start to heat. Stir with a spoon until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is boiling.
2. Add the glucose and continue to cook without stirring until the caramel starts to turn to an amber colour.
3. Remove from the heat and pour the caramel onto a flat baking tray or work surface lined with baking paper.
4. While the caramel is hot lift the edges of the paper to make the caramel as thin as possible. Sprinkle whole and crushed freeze-dried raspberry pieces onto the caramel whilst still warm.
5. Leave to cool thoroughly before breaking into irregular shaped shards and storing in a sealed container until use.

To Serve

1. Cut the peach halves into smaller pieces and arrange them on the plate with the raspberries.
2. Take a hot spoon and scoop two pieces of panna cotta from the container and place onto the plate.
3. Serve with the ice cream and raspberry sugar shards.

Published in Lamingtons & Lemon Tart (best-ever cakes, dessert & treats from a modern sweets maestro) by Darren Purchese

Image Patricia Niven 2016