Friday, August 24, 2012

Peach Melba

A surprising and timely trip down memory lane, even though
neither of us tried the recipe before..........
 Per Tricia ~
I casually mentioned to my older son, who is headed to his first year of
 college in a few days, that the "Dorie Food" would be Peach Melba. He
 said he thought he had tried this dish before and instantly the light 
bulb went off for me. Indeed he had. In the Tuileries Garden in Paris on
 the Fourth of July, 2007.  We actually joked about this because our 
family does not make routine  trips to Europe with the
 kids - as much as we would love to. We were very lucky that year
 and my husband had his one (and only) business trip to France. 
Luckily, Nana and Grandpa decided to take a Paris vacation at the 
same time so we all played during the day and caught up with my husband
 at night. We were enjoying the Tuileries that morning and particularly, one 
of those huge trampolines that gets set up for fairs. Louvre nearby, Angelina
 Tearoom across the street - my boys had eyes only for that trampoline. 
(Nana with the boys, below.....)
Until the skies opened and the ride closed.....
 
We took cover with Nana in one of those little enclosed restaurant/dessert
 places that you find in the larger Paris parks. Tough times require dessert...
My older son decided  his choice dessert would be  something he never tried 
before - Peach Melba.  When the dish arrived it was  HUGE !
He loved every bite. 

My younger  son (who also leaves home for Italy next week) 
 followed in his mother's footsteps and enjoyed Creme Brulee....
which thanks to Dorie ....we now also enjoy at home.
 (same view only one hour later....with time well spent on desserts)
So that was the Paris side of our trip down memory lane.  I decided to
 take a more local approach for the vanilla ice cream and go to a wonderful
 local manufacturer - Nelson's Ice Cream of Royersford, PA.  I am not sure 
whether Nana found this place first or we did, but over the years we have
 visited their little retail store in our neighboring town on many 
a hot summer afternoon. 

 


On this particular hot summer afternoon, I found the store closed.
  I decided to just try the attached factory (when in Rome......) simply
 hoping for 
advice on the nearest retail store - but they sold me some
 vanilla. What a treat and what an experience - I ended up seeing much more 
of the small factory and business office then I ever would have imagined.  
Added to the farm fresh peaches from down the road and the dish with 
Paris origins ended up having quite a local flavor.
And while all of these memories made this a very special dish indeed, 
the recipe and  flavors will stand on their own for anyone preparing it.  
My guys all adored it and this will certainly become a new summer favorite.  
And a great send off dish.....
Per Nana~

This was such a fun recipe, and following Dorie's suggestions
 for serving, really turns it into an elegant dessert.
A few days ago we drove to the farm stand for our supply of fresh corn, 
 tomatoes, and fresh peaches. I bought a tray of peaches and using
 Dorie's instructions for poaching, I poached all the peaches.
 I actually tripled her instructions for the sugar and water portion,
 left out the verbena leaves, and used pure vanilla extract.
I used Creme de Cassis from Nuits Saint Georges in the Burgundy
 section of France that we had purchased on one of our trips.  
One thing I did differently than Dorie was to separate the peaches before
 adding them to the syrup.  It is an extremely messy job and I think
 it would have been a disaster had it sat in the syrup.
The peaches turned out so tasty, and we loved them.
The next day I prepared the rest of the peach melba using the raspberry
 sauce, ice cream and topping it with whipped cream. 
A perfect dessert for a summer evening.

11 comments:

  1. Oh, Tricia, you are really going to have an empty house, aren't you?
    I love the story you shared with this post - such a great experience for you all to have had together.
    Cheers, ladies!

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  2. I'm glad this dessert brought back great memories for you, Tricia! Both desserts look fabulous!

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  3. LOVE this story ladies and so fun to see "the boys". We also call the Dorie dishes "Dorie food" in my house ;) Happy weekend!

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  4. I love that this dessert evoked France for each of you in different ways. It sounds like this was the perfect send off dessert. Happy 100th week, ladies! It's been wonderful cooking along with you.

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  5. What a great story and how cute that your son remembered the exact dessert that he had enjoyed that day in Paris. Sounds like it was a fun trip.

    Both of your versions of this week's recipe look delicious. I think next time I will also halve the peaches before I poach them.

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  6. Tricia, Such a great story about your trip to Paris! I think it’s so lovely that this dessert brought back all those memories! Your boys are very handsome…good luck to them as they spread their wings this fall!
    Both of your desserts look luscious! Great job, ladies! Have a great weekend!

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  7. Such fun memories for you both! Beautifully done...and the perfect, elegant send off dessert :) Happy #100!

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  8. Tricia and Nana: what a wonderful trip down memeory lane, looks like the Peach Melba was a lot of fun preparing and delcious.

    Happy 100th Dorie recipe to both oy you!

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  9. what great memories!!! I bet it makes it much more exciting for your son to link this recipe to his memory of Paris!!

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  10. Thank you for sharing your Paris memory with us - wasn't pulling out those pictures fun? Love the smiles on those little guys who are not so little anymore. Nana, I'm with you on cutting the peaches in half before adding them to the syrup. I didn't do that and, you're right, it was a mess. Good luck to your college-bound young man, Tricia.

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  11. It's so nice when delicious food comes along with a trip down memory lane. A family that waits out the rain by eating dessert is my kind of family, in Paris no less! Happy 100! I've enjoyed getting to know you as we cook together. Here's to the next 100+.

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