Image: Katie Moum on Unsplash

Continuing our mission to create amazing dishes from home grown produce from our allotment….or in this case peaches from the next plot (which we exchanged for our own Blackberries which we have in abundance)!

Peaches & Brioche (serves 4)

Ingredients

  • 2 peaches (or nectarines)
  • 4 brioche slices
  • 150g Mascarpone
  • 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out, pod reserved
  • 150g caster sugar, plus extra to taste
  • pinch Cinnamon
  • 50g Butter
  • 50ml double cream

Method

  1. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Make a cross in the bottom of the peaches with the tip of a sharp knife, then place the peaches in the water and leave for 30 seconds. Drain, peel away the skin of the peaches and set aside.
  2. Cut the fingers of brioche in half and toast them on a griddle pan until golden-brown. Remove from the heat and set to one side.
  3. Mix together the mascarpone and vanilla seeds in a bowl, adding sugar, to taste. Set aside.
  4. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Sprinkle the caster sugar over the base of the pan and allow it to melt and caramelise – do not stir the sugar, just shake the pan. Once the sugar has turned golden-brown and caramelised, carefully add the butter (the sugar may spit) and vanilla pod to the pan, stirring well.
  5. Add the peaches to the pan, basting them with the caramel for a few seconds. Remove the peaches from the pan and set aside, then stir the cream into the remaining caramel in the pan.
  6. To serve, place the brioche slices on a plate then top each with a peach, drizzle over the sauce and serve with a spoonful of vanilla mascarpone.

Enjoy!

In Season this Month

Fruits & Nuts

Apples, Apricot, Aubergine, Blackberries, Blackcurrants, Blueberries, Loganberries, Peaches, Plums, Raspberries, Redcurrants, Strawberries, White currants, Cobnuts, Hazelnuts

Vegetables & Herbs

Artichokes, Aubergines, Beetroot, Broccoli, Cabbages, Carrots, Cauliflower, Chard, Courgettes, Cucumber, Fennel, French Beans, Garlic, Kohlrabi, Lamb’s Lettuce, Onions, Pak Choi, Peas (inc. Sugar Snaps) Potatoes, Radishes, Rocket, Runner Beans, Salsify, Scorzonera, Samphire, Sorrel, Spinach, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes, Watercress

Meat & Game

Lamb, Rabbit, Venison, Wood Pigeon 

Fish & Shellfish

Black Bream, Crab (brown, hen & Spider), Signal Crayfish, Grey Mullet, Lobster, Mackerel, Pollack, Prawns, Scallops, Sea Bass, Squid, Trout (river – brown and rainbow)

Going out of season

Blackberries, Blueberries, Cherry, Mange tout, Peach, Redcurrant, Strawberries (many of these towards the month).

Suzanne is a professional chef, wife and mother who has lived in East Dulwich all her life!

www.suzannejames.co.uk

This article first appeared in the August 2018 issue of SE22 magazine.

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