Peaches Melba

 Recipe from Dubarry

Ingredients :
4 fresh peaches, well ripe
1/2 lb fresh (or frozen) raspberries
4 oz caster sugar
1 pint creamy vanilla ice cream
2 soup spoonfulls dry cherry brandy (kirschwasser)
1 oz thin slices of dry (or fresh) almonds (not compulsory)

Direction :
Steps 1 to 4 must be done in advance (half a day is enough)

1/dip during 30 seconds the peaches in boiling water, rinse and cool them down into chilled water, cut them in 2 halfes, core and peel them carefully and put them on flat face down on a plate
2/make a ligh sirup with the 2/3 of the sugar and the quantity of water necessary to cover (later) the peaches : heat the sugared water and let it boil during 3 minutes and them let the temperature falling down a little bit
3/pour the cherry dry brandy into the sirup, carefully put the peaches into it and poach them gently during 5 to 10 minutes according to the degree of maturity of the fruit. Take the fruit out of the sirup and put them the flat side down on a flat drain until them are at room temperature and well drained
4/mash the raspberries together with the remaining 1/3 of the suger, using a folk. Put it in a pan and heat it until the whole is well blended and melt (a few seconds) and let it cool down
5/put apart the raspberry purée, the half peaches and 4 empty service cups into the fridge
6/just before the meal, very slightly roast the almond slices (except if you can find freh almonds) and let the mcool down at room temperature
7/when time for the dessert comes (not before), put into each cup : first a small ball (sphera) of ice cream, them 2 halves of poached peaches (look at the picture), pour some raspberry purée on top, using a spoon, put a few almond slices on top and serve quickly.
Whipped "Chantilly" cream is NOT in the original recipe. The almonds are NOT in the original recipe neither ...
Bon Appétit !