Coupes Gressac

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •1.5 to 2 quart small saucepan
• •Slotted spoon
• •Medium chilled mixing bowl and whisk or hand mixer
• •Piping bag with a 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) star tip
• •4 wide 8 ounce (240 ml) dessert coupes

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the peaches

   Combine the water and granulated sugar in a small saucepan that will hold the peaches snugly. Heat gently, stirring only until the sugar dissolves, then bring the syrup to a bare simmer. Cut a shallow cross in the base of each peach and lower them into the syrup for 30 seconds per side. Lift them out, slip off the skins, halve them, and remove the stones. Return the halves to the syrup and poach at the gentlest tremble for 3 to 6 minutes, turning once, until a knife enters the thickest part with slight resistance. They must hold their shape beneath the jam. Cool the peaches in their syrup, then chill for at least 45 minutes.

   If the peach begins to soften at its edges, lift it immediately. Residual heat finishes the poach, and a peach cooked until completely tender in the pan may collapse during assembly.
2. 2

   Whip the Chantilly

   Chill a mixing bowl and the whisk or beaters for 10 minutes. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the measured cream, then whisk the remaining cream with the confectioners' sugar and vanilla until it holds medium-firm peaks. If it remains smooth, fold in the reserved cream until the Chantilly is supple but still holds a piping ridge. If it turns slightly grainy, stop the machine and whisk in the reserved cream by hand, one teaspoon at a time, until smooth. Ça se rattrape. Transfer the Chantilly to a piping bag and keep it cold.

3. 3

   Chill and stage

   Place four wide dessert coupes in the freezer for 15 minutes. Lift the peach halves from their syrup, drain them thoroughly, and blot both sides dry; syrup left on the fruit makes the peach skate across the ice. Set out the jam, macaroons, and a shallow dish for the kirsch. Everything must be within reach before the ice cream leaves the freezer.

4. 4

   Lay the vanilla ice

   Let the vanilla ice cream soften for 3 to 5 minutes, only until it yields to a spoon without turning glossy. Divide it among the chilled coupes, about 1/2 cup per serving, and press it into an even bed across the bottom. Return each coupe to the freezer as it is filled.

5. 5

   Soak at service

   Pour the kirsch into the shallow dish and work on one coupe at a time. Spoon about 1 teaspoon over each of three macaroons, turning them once so the kirsch reaches both faces, then lift them as soon as the liquid disappears into the crumb. Arrange the three macaroons in a close triangle on the vanilla ice. This last-moment saturation is not brigade scaffolding. It is the dish. If a macaroon cracks, fit the pieces together beneath the peach; the flavour and structure remain, and the seam will be hidden.

   The macaroon should drink the kirsch throughout while retaining its outline. Saturation means a swift, complete wetting, not a long bath.
6. 6

   Crown and finish

   Set one chilled peach half over each macaroon triangle with its hollow facing upward. Fill the hollow with 1 teaspoon of Bar-le-Duc red-currant jam, then pipe a generous border of Chantilly around the peach. If the fruit slips, lift it, blot it again, and press a shallow seat into the macaroons before replacing it. Serve as soon as the fourth coupe is finished. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use small plain almond macaroons with a crisp edge and a tender crumb. Coconut macaroons and filled Parisian macarons are different confections; neither absorbs the kirsch in the way this composition requires.
• •Kirsch is a dry, clear cherry eau-de-vie, not a sweet ruby cherry liqueur. Its clean cherry perfume must cut through the vanilla ice and Chantilly without adding another layer of syrup.
• •Bar-le-Duc red-currant jam is the prescribed preserve and worth seeking out. A fine tart red-currant jam will keep the necessary contrast if Bar-le-Duc cannot be found, but the change costs the dish its distinctive whole-currant delicacy.
• •Outside peach season, use 4 well-drained canned yellow peach halves in light syrup, about 10 oz / 280 g drained, and omit the poaching syrup. Chill and blot them thoroughly. The classical pantry understood preserved fruit long before the freezer aisle arrived.
• •Choose dense plain vanilla ice cream rather than a very soft whipped style. The ice must support twelve soaked macaroons and four peach halves without surrendering before the coupes reach the table.

Advance Preparation

• •Poach the peaches up to two days ahead and refrigerate them in their syrup. Drain and blot them only when setting up the dessert station.
• •The Chantilly may be whipped up to 2 hours before serving and held cold in its piping bag. If it relaxes, give the filled bag a gentle squeeze and knead before piping.
• •Chill the coupes and measure every component before dessert. Keep the kirsch and macaroons separate until the final assembly; soaking them ahead is the one convenience this dish will not forgive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 315g)