Giada De Laurentiis Marinates Fresh Peaches In This Beloved Italian Wine

Giada De Laurentiis is an Italian-American chef known for her cookbooks, Food Network shows, and her popular blog, Giadzy, where she sells products, details her travels, and, of course, posts tasty recipes. Alongside instructions for making soups, cookies, pasta, and more, Giadzy boasts a tasty recipe for marinated peaches.

After explaining that Italy's spin on sangria is called "vino e percoche," which, in English, means wine and peaches, De Laurentiis reveals that she chooses to soak her peaches in wine before adding them to gelato. De Laurentiis' wine of choice to marinate the fruit? Rosé. The flavor of the crisp pink wine pairs perfectly with fresh peaches.

To make these marinated peaches, you need two obvious ingredients: peaches and rosé. Chop the peaches into medium-sized cubes, and pour the rose over them, then let them sit for an hour and a half at room temperature. From there, you can use the rosé peaches as a sweet topping for ice cream or gelato (as De Laurentiis suggests) or in salads and side dishes.

To make this idea your own, you can add any herbs, spices, or complementary fruit you'd like to the marinade. Thinly sliced basil would go beautifully. If you prefer things sweeter, you can add up to 2 tablespoons of sugar. Throw a handful of raspberries in with the peaches to add another fruity flavor. Or, if you want to take it the tarte route rather than sweet, add some peeled and cubed grapefruit. 

De Laurentiis strains the wine out from the fruit and reduces it down into a thick sauce, adding cinnamon, vanilla, and honey. She then pours the sauce back over the fruit and scoops everything onto vanilla ice cream. 

We think these marinated peaches would make for a light and refreshing addition to an arugula salad. You could even use ¼ cup of the leftover marinating liquid to make a peachy rosé vinaigrette by mixing it with olive oil, vinegar, some honey, and whatever spices you prefer. Or, try grilling the peaches to serve as a side dish with fish or chicken thighs. However you choose to customize and use the fruit, remember that the remaining marinating liquid can also be enjoyed as is, straight from a wine glass!