Those of you who read this blog often (which is probably about one of you, if I’m lucky) may recall that I have a particular interest in the use of herbs in desserts.
At the weekend I was back in England for Sunday lunch, and my father surpassed himself (he has a lot to surpass, having owned several restaurants during his working life) when he produced lavender poached peaches. Unfortunately, I can’t give him all the credit for this creation as it was, I’m told, made using a recipe by Heston Blumenthal, molecular chef-cum-scientist extraordinaire. Miraculously, however, this particular dish did not require the peaches to be poached in a Tibetan pressure cooker at precisely 59 degrees for 23.75 hours; it was apparently do-able even by us mere mortal home cooks. The peaches were peeled and then simmered in a thin syrup that was also flavoured with vanilla, bay leaves and, of course, fresh lavender. The fragrance, as he passed me a bowl containing a single fleshy TS Eliot-style peach bathing in several spoonfuls of the cooking liquor, was quite palate-altering. Thinking about it though, poaching any kind of fruit – pears, apricots, plums – with any kind of herb – rosemary, thyme, basil – could be an experiment worth trying, even for the unscientific Amsterdam foodie.