Poached Peaches In White Wine Recipe

While everyone loves a rich, gooey chocolate dessert, there are times when you'd prefer to have something lighter, simpler, and a little more elegant. Fruits are always a good choice for something that's naturally sweet, but if you want a more sophisticated (and also healthier) option to a fruit pie or cobbler, you can't go wrong with fruit poached in wine.

Recipe developer Jennine Bryant of The Marshside Pantry uses peaches as the base for this poached fruit dessert. While we often think of peaches as a summer fruit, the fact is, due to the magic of modern refrigerated transport, we've been able to enjoy peaches grown in warmer climates for a good many years now. (Serious Eats reported that top-notch peaches come from California, a magical land with a year-round growing season.) Bryant's recipe really couldn't be much simpler, since all it takes is four ingredients to come to life. 

Not a peach fan? Don't worry. Bryant says of this dish, "It would work well with pears ... as they poach beautifully. I think it would be nice with plums, too."

The most important element of this dish is the peaches, of course. You'll need peaches that are nice and ripe, but one problem with out-of-season peaches is that they may have been picked too early so they wouldn't go bad en route from the fields to the store. If the peaches in the produce section are unripe, simply put them in a paper bag, and leave them on the counter for a day or so until they soften up.

This recipe also calls for a vanilla pod and some sugar, along with a bottle of wine. Bryant used chardonnay, but she notes, "I think it's best to go with a wine that you know you enjoy, whether that's something sweeter or something more dry. I enjoy the elegance of the drier wine particularly in this dish, but if sweet is more your thing, that would work just as well." She says there's no need to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe, even if you do use a sweeter wine.

Before you get started, preheat the oven to 400 F. Next, boil a large pot of water on the stovetop. Once the water is boiling, carefully slide the peaches into the hot water. (You might want to use a ladle or slotted spoon for this part.) Let the peaches cook for one minute, then let them cool off in a bowl of cold water for another minute. At this point, Bryant mentions, "Their skin should easily slide off."

Once the peaches are peeled, place them in a shallow baking dish, and pour the wine over the fruit. Split the vanilla pod, and scrape out the seeds. Mix the seeds with the sugar, and sprinkle this mixture over the peaches. Put the scraped pod into the wine in the pan so it can absorb some vanilla flavoring, too.

Bake the peaches for 15 minutes, then flip them over, and bake them for 15 minutes more. Remove the pan from the oven, and allow the peaches to cool for five to 10 minutes before you serve them.

These poached peaches aren't your everyday mac-and-cheese meal kind of dessert. Instead, they're more of a dinner party kind of thing. Bryant describes the dish as "sweet and light," saying, "It would be especially good on a warm summer's night." She suggests serving the poached peaches after a meal of fish or chicken.

If you don't want to serve plain poached peaches, Bryant suggests accompanying them with whipped cream or ice cream, and also notes, "A sorbet would be lovely. I'd pair it with an elderflower sorbet, or, to push the boat out a little more, a fresh basil sorbet." If you really want to add more "wow factor," though, Bryant adds, "An almond tuile or some caramel shards would complement the dish well."