Just peachy

JUDE GILLIES

Everyone has their own idea of how to eat a peach. My favourite is at the beach, barefoot, in my togs. That way, I can launch into the surf afterwards and wash off the sticky, sweet juice that inevitably runs through my fingers.

This is only possible if the peach is how it should be. Forget those peaches picked partially ripe and sold cold from the chillers. To savour that really peachy flavour, they should be tree-ripened and still warm, kissed by the summer sun.

Which is a good reason to grow your own. While other stone fruit such as apricots and cherries might be a bit of a challenge to grow successfully in the Nelson region, peaches make a pretty safe bet in the home garden and are a must-have experience in summer cuisine.

Right now, as summer reaches high noon, they're at their best. Even if you must buy them, they're pretty cheap eating and provide the perfect excuse to experiment and try a few new recipes – and a few new varieties.

Some of you may have noticed the extraordinarily-shaped Flatto peaches available on the market, and now, thanks to Nelson's Waimea Nurseries, available for growing in the home garden.

Imported as fresh fruit a few years ago, Waimea secured the budwood and plant variety rights to grow Flatto peaches commercially in New Zealand and produce trees for the home garden market.

After such a good response to the white-fleshed Sweet Cap – the first Flatto variety it introduced a couple of years ago – Waimea is now launching another peach, Sweet Bonnet, and a flat nectarine, Button Bright, both yellow-fleshed.

As Waimea marketing manager Kate Marshall says, the flat-style peaches pack beautifully in a plastic box without squashing, like a tray of donuts, and make a favourite for kids' school lunchboxes.

And, if Ernest Hemingway can be believed, they also make the perfect cocktail, but only if they are white-fleshed.

Flatto peaches are a favourite in Italy, and Venice in particular, where, at the legendary Harry's Bar, the famous peach cocktail the Bellini was born. Created by the bar's owner Guiseppe Cipriani in the 1930s and named after Giovanni Bellini – the 15th-century Venetian painter – it combines white peach juice with the Italian sparkling wine Prosecco.

Regarded by some as the best sparkling wine cocktail ever invented, the Bellini's fame is probably partly due to such famous Harry's Bar patrons as Hemingway, who is said to have been a regular fixture there in the late 1940s. He mentioned it several times in his book Across the River and Into the Trees, also set in Venice.

While it might be necessary to be in Venice and Harry's Bar to get the real feel for how Hemingway might have drunk his Bellini, there's nothing to stop you using some fresh peaches and making your own at home. The key to a successful Bellini, according to Guiseppe Cipriani, is to only ever use white peach juice and to serve it ice cold – perfect for a late summer Nelson evening.

In the kitchen, the KISS philosophy (keep it simple, stupid) is the best way I know to bring out that perfect peachy flavour in any dish.

My favourite way is to serve them peeled and sugared for breakfast with dollops of thick Greek yoghurt. Obviously, anyone who thinks peeling a grape is challenging has never peeled a ripe peach but, once you've managed it, you simply sprinkle the slices with brown sugar for that caramel touch, then refrigerate them overnight. To stop the peach slices browning, it's best to stir them around in their own juice while they marinate in the sugar.

You can also halve them and sprinkle them with sugar and either grill or bake them long enough to caramelise the cut surfaces without them falling apart, then allow them to cool.

Likewise, apricots make an excellent breakfast cut in half, oven baked with brown sugar and a splash of leftover Christmas brandy or sherry, and served chilled the next morning.

Or you can experiment with some favourite easy-as seasonal recipes of mine such as peach cobbler and that quintessential summer dessert, the sorbet.

PEACH AND RASPBERRY COBBLER (Or whatever other seasonal stone fruit you have, such as cherries, plums or apricots)

125g softened butter
1 cup sugar (I prefer soft brown)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 free-range eggs
1 cup self-raising flour
3 peaches, cut into thin slices, skin on
1 cup raspberries

Heat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy. Add the eggs and beat again, then stir in the flour.

Spoon the mixture into a flan dish or round cake tin with a removable base, and top with a mixture of the peaches and raspberries. Bake for about an hour until cooked when tested with a skewer and it has a "cobbled" paving appearance on top. Serve warm with your choice of yoghurt, icecream or cream.

BELLINI

Before starting, chill the glasses, peaches and Prosecco.

Mix one part white peach puree/ juice to three parts Prosecco, adding a little sugar or syrup to sweeten (but never any other peach liquor such as schnapps) if needed. Serve in a tall highball-type glass.

PEACH SORBET

Really ripe peaches are essential to capture the flavour and essence of summer in this ice-cold dessert for hot days. While you can use an icecream or sorbet maker, if you haven't got one, it can also be made by simply stirring during the freezing process, which gives the sorbet a slightly icy texture. The key to a fresh fruit flavour is that it remains uncooked in any way, hence the need to simply dissolve the fresh pureed fruit in the sugar.

800g fresh, ripe peaches, peeled, stoned and gently pureed.
300g caster sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2-3 fresh peaches for serving

Combine the puree, sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl and allow to stand for about 15 minutes for the sugar to dissolve.

Pour into an icecream maker and process for 30 minutes, or simply put the bowl in the freezer and stir every hour to break the ice into a smooth texture until it is frozen. Serve with sugared, grilled slices of fresh peach.

- © Fairfax NZ News