Champagne-poached peaches with vanilla yoghurt terrine

Serves 8 Desserts and puddings

Advertisement

Method

Lightly grease a 23cm square cake tin and line with cling film. Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes. Put the sugar, cream and vanilla seeds in a pan and stir over medium heat until
the sugar has dissolved (take pan off heat before the cream begins to boil). Squeeze out any excess water from the gelatine leaves, then add to the warm cream and stir until melted. Add the yoghurt and lime juice and mix well. Pour into the prepared tray. Cover with cling film and chill for at least 4 hours or until terrine has set.

Cut each peach in half and remove the stone. Put prosecco, maple syrup and vanilla pod and seeds into a wide pan (the peach halves should be able to fit in one layer). Stir over medium-high heat until the liquid begins to simmer. Add the peach halves and place a scrunched-up piece of greaseproof paper on top to keep them submerged. Poach for 8-10 minutes or until the peaches are tender – there should be little resistance when you pierce them with the tip of a knife. Remove pan from the heat and leave peaches to cool in the poaching syrup.

Once cooled, remove with a slotted spoon and peel off the skin. Return the peeled peaches to the syrup and keep in the fridge until ready to serve. To assemble the dessert, halve the two ripe peaches and remove the stones. Thinly slice one half and cut the rest into wedges. Lay wedges on a baking sheet, dust with icing sugar and run a blowtorch over until caramelised around edges.

For the peach sorbet:

Take 550g ripe peaches, cut in half, remove stones, and roughly chop flesh. Put 25g liquid glucose, 30g sugar and 2tbsp water into a saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat slightly and bring to a simmer. Add peaches and poach 10-15 minutes or until very soft. Take off heat. Tip contents into a blender and blitz to a very fine purée. Leave to cool. Churn purée or pass through a fine sieve to remove any bits of skin. Pour into the bowl of an ice-cream machine and churn until softly set. Transfer to a freezerproof container, cover and freeze for at least 4 hours or until firm.

Transfer terrine from the tray to a chopping board. Use a warm wet knife to cut out neat rectangles, each about 12cm x 3cm. Place a rectangle of terrine on each serving plate. Cut the poached peaches in half and arrange on the plates with the caramelised fresh peaches. Garnish with the thinly sliced peach. Finally, top the yoghurt terrine with a neat scoop of sorbet and serve immediately.