Pêches au Chateau-Laffite

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •2-quart (2-liter) nonreactive saucepan, just wide enough to hold the peach halves
• •10-inch (25-cm) wide saucepan for reducing, or the poaching pan rinsed and dried
• •2-cup (500-ml) heatproof measuring jug and fine-mesh sieve
• •Slotted spoon and a round of baking parchment for the cartouche
• •1½-quart (1.5-liter) glass compote bowl or silver timbale

Instructions

1. 1

   Scald and peel

   Bring a saucepan of water to a full boil and prepare a bowl of very cold water. Cut a shallow cross through the skin at the base of each peach, lower the peaches into the boiling water, and scald them for 20 to 40 seconds. Transfer them immediately to the cold water. Peel from the crossed end, then cut each peach in half along its seam and remove the stone. If the skin clings, return that peach to the boiling water for another 15 seconds rather than tearing at the flesh. Ça se rattrape.

   Scalding loosens the skin without cooking the fruit. A peach that is already soft enough to bruise under a thumb is too ripe for this poach.
2. 2

   Sweeten the claret

   Pour the claret into a snug 2-quart nonreactive saucepan and add all the sugar. Warm it over medium heat, stirring gently, until the sugar dissolves and the wine looks clear rather than grainy. Bring it only to a bare simmer. The quantity of sugar will look bold. It is exactly the source ratio of ten ounces for one bottle, and the finished dish depends on it.

3. 3

   Poach at a tremble

   Lower the peach halves into the sweetened wine. Keep the liquid at the faintest tremble for 4 to 8 minutes, turning the halves once if needed, until a fine skewer enters with slight resistance. Lay a cartouche (a round of baking parchment) directly on the surface if the fruit bobs above the wine; this keeps it bathed without disturbing the wine-to-sugar ratio. Do not boil hard. If the edges begin to fray, remove the pan from the heat at once and set its base in cold water while leaving the peaches in their syrup. Their shape can still be saved.

4. 4

   Cool in syrup

   Leave the peaches in their poaching syrup until both reach room temperature, about 45 minutes, then refrigerate them in the syrup for at least 1 hour. Cooling in the wine is not idle waiting: the fruit finishes tenderizing gently and takes on its garnet color. Once cold, lift the halves carefully with a slotted spoon and arrange them in a chilled glass compote bowl, loosely covered while you finish the syrup.

5. 5

   Reduce by three-quarters

   Strain the poaching liquid into a heatproof measuring jug and note its exact volume. Divide that figure by four; this is your finishing mark. Pour the liquid into a wide saucepan and boil it briskly but steadily until only one-quarter of the measured amount remains, checking in the jug as you approach the mark. The bubbles will become slower and glossier, but trust the measured volume rather than the apparent thickness because hot syrup always looks thinner than cold. If you overshoot without scorching it, add boiling water a tablespoon at a time until the syrup returns to the correct volume. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Set with jelly

   Take the reduced wine off the heat and whisk in the raspberry-flavoured red-currant jelly until completely dissolved. If using the home equivalent, blend the red-currant jelly with the seedless raspberry preserve first, then whisk that mixture into the wine. Pass the syrup through the sieve again if any flecks remain. Once cold, it should be nappant (lightly coating), not firm like a jarred jelly.

7. 7

   Chill and finish

   Cool the syrup to room temperature, then refrigerate it for at least 1½ hours, until quite cold. If it sets too firmly to flow, whisk in chilled water one teaspoon at a time until it falls from the spoon in a slow ribbon. Spoon the cold garnet syrup over the cold peaches, coating each half and allowing a little to pool in the bowl. Serve directly from the compote. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose peaches that smell ripe but remain firm around the seam. This dish truly needs fresh fruit. Canned peaches are already cooked and frozen peaches collapse during poaching; out of season, make poires au vin with firm pears instead, knowing that it is another dish.
• •Actual Château-Laffite honors the source, but a sound dry Médoc claret is the sensible home bottle. Reduction concentrates every virtue and every fault, so avoid harsh cooking wine and heavily oaked reds.
• •Raspberry-flavoured red-currant jelly is difficult to find. Red-currant jelly supplies the clear color, acidity, and pectin the recipe requires; a teaspoon of seedless raspberry preserve restores the original perfume without clouding the syrup.
• •Use the smallest pan that holds the peach halves comfortably. A wide pot demands extra wine merely to cover the fruit, which changes the home scale and leaves you reducing syrup long after everyone has lost patience.
• •Judge the reduction by volume, never by the clock. Peach juice and pan width alter the timing, but reducing the measured poaching liquid to one-quarter keeps faith with the source every time.

Advance Preparation

• •The peaches may be poached one day ahead and refrigerated overnight in their original syrup. Lift them out and make the reduction several hours before serving.
• •The completed peaches and cold syrup may be assembled up to 6 hours ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Longer holding softens the fruit and lets the wine color penetrate the cut surfaces more deeply.
• •Keep any extra syrup refrigerated for up to 3 days. If it firms in the cold, loosen it with a teaspoon of chilled water before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 320g)