Our friend Leo made Pesche Ripiene (stuffed peaches) for dessert when we visited in Piemonte last week. They are amongst the best things I’ve eaten, ever, in my whole life. And they are easy to make. In fact, they are so easy I will give you the recipe here rather than send you off to another page for it.
Here’s what you’ll need: peaches, amaretto (or amaretti) cookies (about 3 per peach half, depending on size of cookies and size of peaches), marsalla, sugar, butter
Cut firm but ripe free-stone yellow peaches in half – Leo recommends Elberta. (They are widely available here but nowadays are not as common in the U.S. as they once were). Chop up the cookies, add some sugar (+/- 1/2 tsp per peach half), and add enough marsala wine to make the cookie stuffing hold its shape. Overfill each peach half with the cookie mixture and top with a dab of butter. Put in a preheated (350) oven and bake until done. The peaches are delicious with this stuffing, and somehow there is a by-product of excellent caramel sauce that can be drizzled over the top (Leo says it comes from the moisture the peaches throw off mixing with the sugar).
Next time you need an easy dessert and peaches are in season, try making stuffed peaches, and then when everyone tells you how fantastic they are, send a silent thank-you to Leo.
This sounds lovely. But what does “bake until done” mean, when none of the ingredients needs cooking to be edible…?
Good point – you bake the peaches until they’re soft, the cookie filling is brown, and there’s some lovely gooey sauce on the bottom of the pan. The recipe is vague, I realize, but it’s how Leo gave it to me. When peaches are back in season (sigh) I’ll make it myself and edit with quantities and baking time. Buon appetito!
I’m caught in a time warpy moment and feeling rather displaced – the mere sight of peaches made me think that it was still summer? Well! I’ll just pretend that the flat of kaki fruit we bought yesterday are actually peaches. Deep orange squishy ones!
No, summer’s definitely gone, alas. L loves kaki, I do not; but I made him kaki ice cream last week, and he claims it’s not bad. To me it tastes like melon ice cream, another not-favorite. Give me peaches any day… if only they were in season every day!
Sheesh! It must still be summerish where YOU are! It’s 32 degrees this morning and gray and I just had to load the wood stove….. but the thought of peaches was like a ray of warm sweet sun and took me back to the few peaches I ate this summer. Thank you for the recipe. Have you seen “Julie and Julia?” I recommend it — and remember when you see Amanda Hesser that John was her first book editor — imagine our surprise when she appeared as herself. Now that I finally see your long list of edible postings I clearly have some cooking and eating to do. Our treat of the week was a curried butternut squash soup made from squash I grew, simmered with onions and a large celery root, chicken stock, lovely curry and heavy cream at the end…..nnummy….beautiful color too. Happy feasting! The only fresh fruit iapples and this is good year — they are firm and crunchy and there are lots of varieties. Love, Kate
Wish it were still summerish – it was 8 C this a.m., and we’ve had the stove going for two nights now. But it does get very pleasant during the day still… if the sun is shining. Your soup sounds fabulous, I could go for a bowl right now. Tomorrow we will cut up our one pumpkin and I’ll make a pie – it’s the first time we’ve had success with pumpkins, limited as it was. We did manage to produce 8 gourds however; and for the first time this year I couldn’t count the cherries – there were more than 2 dozen, I’m sure. Haven’t seen J & J yet, but it is certainly on my list for when we get to the States… Autumn. Always my favorite season there; it’s different here without the foliage, but it is lovely, too.