White Peaches In Rose-Water Syrup

Food blogging started out as a curious little hobby but it is morphing into a very timing consuming affair. The essential 3 components : cooking,photographing and writing can take up a inordinate amount of my time. I have to be honest and admit that I am truly struggling to sustain the momentum while continuing to complete my work datelines. (the one that pays the bills!!) I continue to marvel at prolific bloggers who demonstrate clock-work regularity in their posting - some of whom have chocked up an enviable stash of back log which allows them to do auto-scheduled posting.... One and half years into blogging and I am still at below 150 posts to date! Such snail pace!

Hence, it helps tremendously when once in a while a simple but pretty recipe like this pops up to offer a very welcome concession.


Easy to prepare and awfully practical. I don't know about the rest of you but I normally don't buy peaches in Singapore because very often the peaches I get here are not juicy or sweet. The only time I had a good peach was when I bought an air flown Japanese peach at $16/piece. Hence, poaching this in Rose Syrup helps to tenderise and sweeten the otherwise bland fruit- awfully practical! The dash of Rose Water and the sprinkle of chopped pistachios instantly transform this otherwise simple and uninteresting recipe into an exotic treat with a delicate middle eastern touch.
If you are looking for a break from stirring and mixing in the kitchen, this would be a sweet change.


Recipe
500g    castor sugar
1 tbsp rose-water
4 White peaches

To serve
plain yoghurt
90g chopped pistachios

Method
1. In a heavy saucepan, mix the sugar and rose water with 2000ml of water. Bring the water to boil.
2. Using a sharp knife, lightly draw a cross at the top of the peaches. Place the peaches in the boil water and simmer for 5-10mins or until softened.
3. Remove the peaches from the water and peel off the skin. Place the peeled skin back into the boiling water and continue to reduce the syrup until volume is reduced by half.
4. Toast some pistachios in the oven at 150C for about 5-10mins. Chop the pistachios into small pieces.
5. Serve the peaches by ladeling a little Rose Water Syrup over the peaches and sprinkle with pistachios.
6. Alternatively, the peaches can also be served with a scoop of yogurt.