Recipe of the week
Baked stone fruit with rosemary, lime and ginger syrup
From preserves to desserts to salads, there are so many lovely ways to enjoy summer’s sweet and juicy stonefruit.
Serve this mix of juicy, fragrant fruits hot or at room temperature with a dollop of mascarpone and a crisp biscuit for a light and lovely dessert.
❚ 3 each, ripe but firm: nectarines, plums and apricots
❚ 25g butter, cut into small cubes
❚ 2 tbsp + 1⁄3 cup brown sugar
❚ 2 pieces thinly peeled lime rind (remove as much pith as possible)
❚ 1 thumb ginger, thinly sliced
❚ 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
❚ 2 sprigs rosemary
❚ 1⁄2 cup water
❚ 2 limes, juiced
❚ 12 cherries
Heat oven to 180C. Halve and stone fruit, except for the cherries.
Scatter butter over the base of a non-reactive baking dish large enough to hold the fruit snugly, cut side up, in a single layer. Add the fruit then scatter over the 2 tablespoons brown sugar, lime rind, ginger, vanilla pod (save seeds for syrup) and rosemary.
In a small saucepan, heat the second measure of brown sugar with the water until sugar is completely dissolved. Then bring to the boil for 2 minutes.
Remove pan from heat and add vanilla seeds and lime juice. Pour syrup over fruit.
Bake 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and add cherries, basting fruit with the pan juices.
Return fruit to the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until fruit is tender and golden. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Serves 6