Fruit, wine, a bit of sugar—not sangria but the ultimate in summer desserts

During the last two posts I’ve been thinking and writing about serving fruits for dessert. It has brought up memories of the long lunches we would have during what seemed to be those endless summer days I spent in the South of France when we all gathered at my grandparents’ home.

Lunch was the main meal of the day and where we lingered and enjoyed the delights that my grandmother had either picked up at the marché that morning or the gardener had brought in from the potager—the vegetable garden filled with all the wonders that grew and baked in that hot summer sun that created the explosion of flavors that Provence is known for.

Since lunch was abundant and served with plenty of wine, it was always followed by an afternoon sieste that was a perfect way to avoid the intensity of the midday sun and give us all time to recover.

I was young and only allowed to drink wine on special occasions. And one of those special occasions was a peach dessert. What a treat.

A bowl of fruits was passed around the table and we would each select the fruit of our choice. It was the peaches that created this special dessert.

It was unthinkable to eat your fruit with your hands when you were at the dinner table. A knife and fork were used to both peel and cut up the peach. It was a task I learned to master at a very young age. Once the peach was cut up and ready to eat, it would be placed into your red wine glass with the addition of red wine and—this is what made it special—sugar was added to this concoction. I know what you are thinking: this is like sangria. It is, but it’s not. The concentration of the ripe peach, the full-bodied red wine, and the little bit of sugar creates a mélange that is pure indulgence and totally wonderful.

I hope you will try it.

PÊCHES AU VIN ROUGE Serve: 1 peach per person Prep time: 5 minutes per glass Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 very ripe peach I glass full-bodied red wine ½ tablespoon sugar

Directions

Peel the peach, slice it off the pit, and cut it up into bite-size pieces.
Place the peach into your wine glass.
Add ½ tablespoon of sugar.
Add half a glass of the wine and stir to combine the sugar, peach juice, and wine.
Top off with wine.
Serve with a spoon.

Bon Appétit

This post was created prior to our site upgrade. Comments at the time of our upgrade included:

Arlene Vaquer April 08, 2022

As a very messy baker and cook, I took your advice to prepare and measure in advance. And it really worked for the meals I made this past week. Thank you! —Arlene

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