Summer is in full swing and it feels like the days keep getting hotter and hotter. Right now, you may be lounging around in the heat just begging for anything that could refresh you.
Maybe you could go grab some ice cream or gelato?
The thought quickly escapes your head. You’re trying to keep yourself trim during the summer months. As tasty as those treats are, and as refreshing as they may be, you should probably go for something a little healthier.
Perhaps some fruit could satisfy your cravings?
But that just seems a little bit boring. You have some peaches sitting on the counter but you don’t want to just grab one and take a bite. You want to turn it into something super tasty that you’ll really enjoy.
And if you can get a little bit of Italian red wine involved then that’s even better!
Does that sound even slightly familiar? If so, this is the article for you. We’re about to present you with an amazing recipe for peaches in Italian red wine.
And yes, it involves more than putting a peach in a bowl and pouring red wine over it!
Let’s jump right in with the ingredients list.
The Ingredients
Before we get started, we just need to give credit to The Spruce Eats for their wonderful recipe. This classically Italian dish has a little bit of extra bite to it thanks to the work that these guys have done.
The recipe itself takes about 50 minutes to complete, though most of that will be spent cooking.
Yes, you are going to cook this refreshing summer treat!
It will serve four people too, which makes it ideal for when you have company or you want to get the whole family involved. And even if you’re on your own, that just means you have plenty of leftovers to snack on.
This is what you’ll need to make the dish:
- Three cups of the Italian red wine of your choice.
- Four tablespoons of brandy (if we’re going to make an alcoholic dessert we may as well go all of the way).
- Six tablespoons of sugar.
- Four large peaches. Check them for ripeness because you want them to be as firm as possible.
- A cinnamon stick
- Just a dash of water
The Method
Got all of your ingredients ready to go?
Excellent stuff! These are the steps that you have to follow to make the fish.
Step 1
Peel all four of the peaches and put them to the side. You’ll come back to them later. For now, you want to grab all of your other ingredients and a saucepan. Pour in the lot and stir well. Keep going until you see all of the sugar dissolve into your wine and brandy mixture.
Try to resist the urge to drink the mixture at this stage. We know that it smells good but you have bigger things planned for it.
Step 2
Grab a different saucepan and place your peaches inside. Ideally, you want to leave as little room for the peaches in the pan as possible. This ensures that the peaches stay where they’re supposed to, rather than starting to bob around when you add your liquid. The end result is a more even cooking experience!
Speaking of liquid, grab the pan with the wine and brandy mixture and pour it into the pan that contains the peaches.
Add your cinnamon stick to the mix and then pour a little water in. You want to have just enough water to cover the peaches and no more.
Step 3
Place the saucepan on a high heat so that you bring your liquid to the boil. When the bubbles start going crazy, reduce the heat and leave the mixture to simmer.
It should take about 20 or 30 minutes to cook the peaches. Leave them in a bit longer if you have especially firm peaches.
What you should find is that your peaches become soft without becoming mushy.
Once cooked, take the pan off the heat and place it to the side. Leave it there to cool down until the pan and the peaches inside get down to room temperature.
Step 4
Grab a large glass bowl and set it to the side. Once your peaches have cooled down, transfer them from the saucepan into the glass bowl.
Note that we didn’t saw pour here. You want to remove only the peaches and cover them up once they’re in the glass bowl.
Now, removed the cinnamon stick from your saucepan and place it back on the heat. The goal here is to bring it to a rolling boil so that you can reduce the liquid. The mixture will get a touch thicker, but it won’t be syrupy. Instead, you’ll see deeper colours and detect more flavour coming from it.
Remove the pan from the heart again and leave it to cool to room temperature.
When ready, pour the liquid over the peaches.
Step 5
All that’s left to do is to serve your peaches!
If you do want this as a summer trip, we can’t help but recommend a scoop of vanilla ice cream to go along with the fruit. Don’t worry! They cancel each other out (at least that’s how we think it works).
In the absence of ice cream, we may want to add a cold sauce into the mix. Or, you could just pop the peaches in the fridge for a little while and make them cooler that way!
The Final Word
We do love a good peach.
But what we love more is a peach that’s been so soaked in brandy and Italian red wine that it reveals a ton of new flavours that we’ve never experienced before.
That’s exactly what you’re getting with this Italian dish.
Yes, it may take a touch of time and concentration to prepare. But once you’re done, you’ll have a perfect summer treat that we’re sure your friends will enjoy.
I’m a passionate about good wine and good cooking.
I like to keep me updated and share with my online friends my gastronomic knowledge.
