This easy fresh peach dessert recipe is the perfect cold dessert for warm weather entertaining. Rosé Poached Peaches with Zabaglione is a light, elegant way to use seasonal fruit, combining ripe peaches with gently scented rosé and a silky zabaglione. If you’re looking for impressive yet simple dessert recipes with fresh peaches, this one lets the fruit take centre stage while delivering maximum impact with minimal effort.
How to Choose the Best Peaches for Summer Desserts
Fresh peaches are in season from October to April, making it the ideal time to cook with them. Choose peaches with smooth, unblemished skin and handle them carefully. While they’re often sold firm, peaches soften and become increasingly juicy as they ripen at home, perfect for cold peach desserts and summer entertaining.
How to Pick the Best Fresh Peaches
Buy local when you can
Peaches are at their best when they’re grown close to home and picked ripe. Roadside stalls, farmers’ markets and fruit-growing regions are your best bet. Take a moment to chat with the grower. They’ll tell you which fruit is ready now and which will ripen over the next few days.
Say yes to a sample
If a grower offers you a taste, it’s because they’re confident in their fruit. Sampling is the quickest way to judge sweetness and texture, and a good peach rarely needs convincing.
Colour matters more than perfume
A ripe peach often smells inviting, but colour is the better indicator. Look for vibrant, warm tones and avoid fruit with green patches, which suggests it was picked too early and won’t develop properly.
Use the gentle squeeze test
Handle with care and only test fruit you plan to buy. Press lightly near the stem. If it yields slightly, it’s ready to eat. Rock-hard peaches will need time; overly soft ones are best used immediately.
Buy at different stages of ripeness
Unless you’re planning a peach feast, choose fruit at varying stages so you can enjoy them over several days rather than all at once.
How to Store Peaches
Once home, store peaches flat and at room temperature, grouped by ripeness. This helps them mature evenly and prevents bruising. If you have more than you can eat, refrigeration will slow things down, but use them before the skins wrinkle, a sign the fruit is drying out.
Summer Rosé Poached Peaches with Zabaglione Clouds
I love this simple cold peach dessert recipe because it lets ripe peaches take centre stage, gently enhancing those that need a touch of sweetness. The zabaglione should be made close to serving, though – it’s at its best fresh and doesn’t hold well.
Ingredients
- 4 ripe peaches
- 1½ cups dry Rosé wine
- 3/4 cup caster sugar
- One vanilla pod, split lengthways
- Zest of one orange, in strips (use a vegetable peeler)
- For the Zabaglione
- 4 egg yolks
- 100g caster sugar
- 1/2 cup marsala
- 1/2 cup dry Rosé wine (the same rosé works well)
Instructions
- Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Carefully lower the peaches into the boiling water and blanch for 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and, once cool enough to handle, peel away the skins with a small paring knife. Halve the peaches and remove the stones.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the rosé, caster sugar, vanilla pod, orange zest and water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Add the peaches and cook for 15 minutes, turning once or twice, until tender. Remove from the heat and allow the peaches to cool completely in the syrup.
- To make the zabaglione, place the egg yolks, sugar, marsala and rosé into a heatproof bowl and whisk to combine. Set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, making sure the base does not touch the water. Whisk continuously for about 8–10 minutes, until thickened, pale and holding soft peaks. Remove from the heat immediately.
- To serve, arrange the peach slices in chilled glasses or bowls and spoon the warm zabaglione over the top. Finish with a glass of the rosé used in the recipe for a seamless summer pairing.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 518Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 186mgSodium: 211mgCarbohydrates: 96gFiber: 3gSugar: 92gProtein: 5g
Eatdrinkandbekerry.net offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only.
