Poached peaches in pomegranate juice
“Peaches have a quite short season in Palestine. They’re flavorful, and I think they go very well with a lot of desserts, including mouhalabieh. These peaches are poached in pomegranate juice flavoured with lavender. I usually pick the lavender and pomegranates from my garden, and I get local peaches from Um Nabil.” - Fadi Kattan
SERVES 6
300g / 1½ cups sugar
360ml / 1½ cups water
175ml / ¾ cup pomegranate juice
5 lavender flowers (the tips of the lavender sprigs)
6 ripe peaches
In a saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and pomegranate juice over low heat and stir for 3 to 4 minutes until the sugar dissolves.
Turn the heat to high to let the mixture boil, and then decrease the heat to medium and add the lavender flowers.
With the tip of a knife, score an X at the base of each peach. Add the peaches to the saucepan, cover, and leave to cook for 8 minutes, or until the peaches are tender but still firm.
Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath with a bowl of water and ice cubes. With a spider or slotted spoon, remove the peaches from the syrup and immediately put them in the ice bath. Take them out of the bath and leave them in a sieve to drain. You can either remove the skin of the peaches (they should slip off easily) or keep them on. Store the peaches in the fridge while you finish the dish.
Place the saucepan with the syrup over medium-high heat and let it boil for 8 to 10 minutes, until it forms a very thick syrup.
Pour the syrup over the peaches and store in the fridge, but serve them soon; otherwise they will become mushy. Serve the peaches and fragrant syrup plain or alongside another dessert.
Images and text from Bethlehem, A Celebration of Palestinian Food by Fadi Kattan, 📷 Ashley Lima. Hardie Grant Books RRP $65.
