TODAY’S RECIPE:

Poached peaches in sparkling wine with basil and vanilla

SPARKLING dessert. Serves: 4 Ingredients

2 vanilla pods, seeds scraped 100g golden caster sugar 8 basil leaves 4 large peaches, cut in half and stoned 200ml sparkling wine Picked basil leaves, to garnish FOR VANILLA CREAM 1 vanilla pod, seeds only 100g mascarpone 100ml whipping cream

Method

1 Put the vanilla pods, seeds and sugar in a saucepan with 200ml water and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Once boiling, drop in the basil and peaches. Poach for two to three minutes until just tender, then put a lid on the pan and leave the peaches to cool in the syrup.

2 Once cool, pour in the sparkling wine and leave for ten minutes. While the poached fruit is soaking up the wine, beat the vanilla, mascarpone and cream together to soft peaks. Serve the peaches in a bowl with plenty of the liquid. Finish with a spoonful of the cream and a few basil leaves. n