Peaches Poached with Basil

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Peaches Poached with Basil by TheRunawaySpoon

This is a dish that keeps on giving. The peach halves, gently poached in a fragrant syrup of white wine and sugar infused with fresh basil, make a gorgeous, aromatic dessert. As TheRunawaySpoon notes, the leftover syrup, tinted a rosy pink from the peach skins (which conveniently slip right off once the fruit is tender), should be reserved and savored: drizzle it over ice cream, or use it to perk up sparkling water or prosecco. Note: using non-clingstone peaches will make your life easier here! - A&M

Only four ingredients are needed: peaches, sugar, white wine and basil.

Amanda energetically separates basil leaves from their stems. This part is optional -- she was just in the mood for precision.

It was so humid that the sugar clumped together in iceberg-like chunks. Here, it's being added to water and white wine (a Gruner Veltliner, Riesling or something else floral is especially nice).

Lovely local peaches.

Not so lovely when you try to separate the halves.

Clingstone, no less!

As we struggle with the peaches, the syrup simmers happily away.

Back on the battlefield...

The aftermath. It's not pretty.

Luckily, we found that most of the butchered peach halves looked just fine once we turned them over!

The basil goes into the syrup to infuse.

Followed by the peaches, pretty side up!

Cooking time will depend on the ripeness of your peaches. This batch took nearly 15 minutes to soften and release their skins, but our first one only took about 6.

Still waiting on those peaches.

When the skins are ready to come off, they pucker and wrinkle. Amanda noted that they start to look like the skin of an elephant.

The rest of the basil goes in, and the syrup (now pink from the peaches) gets reduced so the flavors become concentrated.

Our skins were still a little resistant, but we managed to peel them off eventually!