Pêches Dame-Blanche

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart nonreactive saucepan
• •Wide slotted spoon
• •Parchment paper for a cartouche
• •2½-quart (2.4-liter) timbale or deep round serving bowl
• •Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
• •Large piping bag with a ½-inch grooved star tip

Instructions

1. 1

   Chill and macerate

   Put a 2½-quart (2.4-liter) timbale or deep round serving bowl in the freezer. Chill the mixing bowl, beaters, piping bag, and grooved star tip as well. Toss the thin pineapple slices with the maraschino and Kirsch, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, turning the slices once so both liqueurs reach every surface.

2. 2

   Peel the peaches

   Cut a very shallow cross in the base of each peach without opening the flesh. Lower the peaches into boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds, then transfer them directly to ice water. Slip off the skins with your fingers, keeping the fruit whole. If a patch of skin clings, return that peach to the boiling water for another 10 seconds; scraping with a knife bruises the flesh and solves the wrong problem.

   Use small peaches of similar size, but judge each one separately. Fragrance and a slight give at the shoulder matter more than perfect matching.
3. 3

   Poach them gently

   Combine the water, sugar, vanilla seeds, and vanilla pod in a narrow nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring only until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 3 minutes. Lower in the peeled peaches and cover them with a round of parchment touching the syrup. Hold the liquid at the barest tremble for 8 to 15 minutes, turning the fruit gently, until the tip of a paring knife enters near the stem with slight resistance. Never let the syrup boil hard. If one peach softens before the others, lift it out at once and let the rest continue; equal timing is tidy, but properly cooked fruit is better.

   Stop just before the peaches seem completely tender. Their retained heat finishes the work while they begin to cool.
4. 4

   Cool through the center

   Lift the peaches into a shallow heatproof container. Let the syrup stand off the heat for 10 minutes, then pour it and the vanilla pod over the fruit. Set the container in an ice bath and turn the peaches gently until the syrup is no longer warm. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. They must be cold all the way to the stone before meeting the ice cream; a warm center melts the foundation from underneath.

5. 5

   Build the frozen base

   Drain the pineapple for 5 minutes, keeping its slices but not the loose macerating liquid, which would lower the ice cream's freezing point and make a puddle. Let the vanilla ice cream soften for 5 to 8 minutes, only until spreadable. Pack it into the chilled timbale as an even, generous layer, then cover it completely with overlapping pineapple slices. Return the timbale to the freezer for 15 minutes. If the ice cream turns glossy or begins running at the edge, stop and freeze it again until firm. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Whip firm Chantilly

   Lift the peaches from their syrup and leave them to drain while you make the Chantilly. Beat the very cold cream with the confectioners' sugar and vanilla, first at medium speed and then a little faster, until it holds firm peaks and deep, clean ridges from the whisk. A soft cream slumps against the ice, so stop only when a lifted peak stands upright. If the cream looks slightly grainy, stop immediately and fold in the optional cold cream 1 tablespoon at a time by hand until smooth. Ça se rattrape, provided you catch it before cream becomes butter.

   Cold tools buy you time. The goal is a firm, smooth Chantilly that holds the grooved piping pattern, not a dry cream with a chalky surface.
7. 7

   Fill every crevice

   Blot the bases of the peaches dry and nestle all four upright on the pineapple-covered ice cream. Fit the piping bag with the large grooved star tip, fill it with Chantilly, and pipe large rounded fluted bulbs between every peach and into every open crevice. Work quickly and generously, keeping the peaches visible above the cream. Serve at once with a broad spoon, giving each guest one whole peach and some of every layer. The stones remain inside the fruit, so say so as you serve. À table!

Chef Tips

• •This dish asks for ripe peach-season fruit that smells of peaches before you cut it, but the flesh must remain firm at the seam. If the market offers hard, scentless fruit, don't force it; make Poires Belle-Hélène, a different canonical dessert built for pears, and return to this one when peaches deserve the poaching syrup.
• •Clear maraschino is a cherry liqueur, not the syrup from a jar of red cocktail cherries. Kirsch is a dry cherry eau-de-vie. The first brings sweetness and perfume, the second a clean, warming edge, and the pineapple needs both.
• •The round silhouette depends on leaving the peaches whole, exactly as the preparation intends. Small fruit gives a generous but manageable serving, and a dessert fork and spoon let each guest work neatly around the stone.
• •Choose dense, full-fat vanilla ice cream made with real cream. An airy carton melts too quickly beneath the peaches and cannot support the architecture of the timbale.
• •The leftover vanilla-peach syrup keeps for several days in the cold. Strain it and use it over fresh fruit or to sweeten a glass of sparkling water.

Advance Preparation

• •Poach the peaches up to 1 day ahead and refrigerate them submerged in their vanilla syrup. Drain them only when you are ready to assemble the dessert.
• •Slice and macerate the pineapple up to 6 hours ahead. Keep it covered in the refrigerator, then drain it thoroughly before it touches the ice cream.
• •The Chantilly can be whipped and loaded into its piping bag up to 1 hour ahead, then held very cold. Give the bag one gentle squeeze into the bowl before decorating to confirm the cream still holds its ridges.
• •Assemble no more than 15 minutes before serving. A long freezer rest hardens the peaches, while a long refrigerator rest softens the ice cream; this timbale earns its drama by arriving promptly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)