I came up with this one as a special Valentine’s version of a Nigella recipe, itself based on a cocktail. Nigella’s decadent Mint Julep Peaches are amazing as they are, but I had done this recipe to death. So it’s no surprise to those that know me that I was looking at tweaking the recipe somewhat.

The origins of my version came after many iterations of Nigella’s mint and bourbon peaches when, buying peaches at my local supermarket recently, with my new musk flavouring essence lingering on my hands, I discovered the scent of the peaches and the delicate floral musk scent just seemed to match. So I set about creating this wonderfully pink, delicately sweetened version of the poached peaches, with the added bonus of pink gin as the alcohol base. My guinea pig friend, La, was absolutely blown away by the flavours in this dish, so I’m counting it as a success.

In order to create the gentle pink hue of the syrup, I added red dragonfruit to the simmering liquid – an appropriate shade to match the musk-stick-reminiscent palate of the syrup. If, heaven forbid, you hate musk sticks, don’t discount this recipe as with a little less musk essence, you get a delicately flavoured, aromatic peach dish worthy of your most precious Valentine, or your group of single friends if you’re like me – we like to eat our hearts out metaphorically.

Ingredients

• 700ml water
• 300g caster sugar, or equivalent alternative
• 250ml pink gin
• 8 peaches (yellow or white fleshed)
• 2-3 drops musk essence flavouring
• fresh/frozen red dragonfruit (optional)

Method

1. In a saucepan, simmer the water, sugar or alternative, and 200ml of the gin together with the drops of musk essence over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
2. Prepare your peaches by washing them and cutting them in half, removing the seed if easily done, otherwise this can wait until after poaching when it will be somewhat easier.
3. Place peach halves in the syrup, cut side down, to simmer for a few minutes before flipping them over for a few minutes more. You can do this in batches if your saucepan doesn’t accommodate 16 peach halves comfortably.
4. Once softened by the poaching, remove the peaches to a plate and carefully peel off the skins – the mounds will be either delicately pink and white, or golden and russet in colour depending on the type of peaches you’ve used.
5. Cover the poached peach halves with plastic wrap and set them in the fridge to cool while you reduce 200ml of the syrup with the remaining 50ml gin and boil until you have halved the amount of liquid. By this time, if you have others around, you’ll be getting inquisitive comments as to the delicious aroma emanating from your kitchen.
6. Once you’ve cooled the reduced syrup, it’s time to plate up and serve your romantic masterpiece. Place 2-4 peach halves per person on your serving plates, add two strategically placed quennelles of your favourite non-dairy vanilla ice cream to form a heart shape in the centre, crush some dragon fruit over the top and drizzle the whole with some of the reduced syrup, and serve.
7. Reserve the remaining syrup in a glass jar for the next time you make the recipe, adding extra water and gin as needed.