Fresh fruit is one of the highlights of summer, either as is or in desserts.
One of our favourite things about summer must be the fruit. Succulent stone fruit sold along the side of the roads. The smell of fresh, sun-kissed berries Mum brings home fills our kitchen and they never last long.
Punnets upon punnets of strawberries are consumed every day in our house and waiting for the nectarines to reach the perfect ripeness is one of the real tests of patience we practise.
We love eating the bounty of summer fruit as they are but we sometimes do something a little bit more special with them every now and then.
These two recipes are a couple of desserts we make when we are having some of our many barbecue dinners up at Mum and Dad's house.
Boiling water for removing skin, enough to cover the stone fruit 4 peaches 4 nectarines 4 plums Ice Lemon juice 2 cups raspberries 2 cups blueberries 2 cups water for sugar syrup 1 cup sugar 1 vanilla pod, seeds removed ½ cup mascarpone 1 vanilla pod, seeds removed
Bring a pot of water enough to cover the peaches, nectarines and plums to a boil.
Place the stone fruit into the water for 1 minute and remove with a slotted spoon in to a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes. Peel the skin away and squeeze over lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Place the fruit in a heat proof dish and set aside while you make the sugar syrup.
Place the two cups of water, sugar and vanilla pod into a pot and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer until it is reduced by half. Pour the syrup over the fruit and allow to cool. Add the raspberries and blueberries to the rest of the fruit when ready to serve.
Mix together the mascarpone and vanilla beans together in a bowl and serve on top of the poached fruit.
Summer trifle
Summer trifle.
Serves 4
1 cup rosé 1/2 cup sugar 1 peach, stone removed and thinly sliced 2 apricots, stones removed and thinly sliced 20cm store-bought sponge cake 1 cup cream, whipped until soft peaks form 150g raspberries 1 Tbsp icing sugar
Place the wine and sugar into a pot and bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Place the sliced fruit into a shallow tray and pour over the cooled syrup until it just covers the fruit. Cut the sponge into 8 equal pieces and spoon over the remaining syrup.
Place the raspberries in a large bowl with the icing sugar and crush with a fork. Fold in the whipped cream. Spoon over the cream mixture on to a piece of the sponge then add some of the stone fruit.
Top with another piece of sponge, more cream and then the rest of the fruit.
