Peach Melba & Vanilla-Cardamom Ice Cream


peach-melba-vanilla-cardamom-ice cream Just give me a cup of soothing vanilla ice cream topped with fresh fruits and raspberry sauce once a day in summer and I promise to become your slave for the season! Or perhaps you'd like to share some of my delicious Peach Melba, a classic summer dessert that's easy to assemble and worthy to be served at a royal wedding. I have always been a fan of ice creams, and though I love tropical flavors more, there's a charm about vanilla ice cream that is hard to replicate, especially if you decide to serve it with some fruits or toppings. Peach Melba is one such brilliant French dessert that combines 2 best fruits of the summer season, peaches and raspberries, alongwith my vanilla cardamom ice-cream; it looks beautiful, tastes fantastic, and will totally earn you brownie-points at a summer party! Luscious, decadent, yet healthy, easy and flavorful at the same time, you can't ever refuse this classic summer dessert!

Though summer is dominated by berries, peaches and plums come pretty close at the second spot! Luckily for me, I love them both, so when my cousin gave me a batch of peaches and plums, picked fresh from her garden, I was thrilled, as it meant more desserts and tasty treats. I prefer nectarines for their juicy texture, but peaches work great when they are poached or grilled. So while I still have a few saved up for our 4th July bbq event, using them to make this Peach Melba was indeed a wonderful decision! Off this goes to Mike who's collecting Frozen Treats! And it also goes to Andrea's Grow your Own event, to celebrate the home-grown peaches!

Ingredients

Cardamom Ice Cream
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
2 cups cool-whip (or heavy whipping cream)
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp cardamom powder

For the Peaches
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 peaches
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Raspberry Sauce
2 cups raspberries
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 rbsp lemon juice
toasted almonds or fresh raspberries - for garnish

Method

Vanilla-Cardamom Ice Cream
Combine all the ingredients and stir briskly for about two minutes until sugar is dissolved. Then pour into a 1-gallon ice cream freezer can and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. If you don't have an ice-cream-maker, cover the mixture and freeze it for 4 hours; then remove and churn again on "whip" setting in a blender to make it smooth and creamy. Again freeze it for 4 more hours, then repeat the churning process. Finally, set it in the freezer for 8-10 hours till it is entirely set and frozen. This is a time-consuming procedure, but works well to get the machine-like smooth & creamy texture!

Poaching the Peaches
Cut the peaches into 4 quarters per peach. Put the water, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla essence into a wide saucepan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Bring the pan to the boil and let it bubble away for about 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to a fast simmer.

Cut the peaches in half, and if the stones come out easily then remove them, if not then you can get them out later. Poach the peach halves in the sugar syrup for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side depending till they become soft, but not mushy. They should still hold their shape and weight. Remove them and keep for later. When sufficiently cool, peel off the skin.

Raspberry Sauce/Coulis
To make the raspberry sauce, blend the raspberries, confectioners' sugar, and lemon juice in a blender or a food processor to form a smooth thick sauce. Sieve to remove the pits and pour the puree into a jug. If you use frozen berries, make sure you thaw them well, then soak them in water for 10-15 mins before making the puree.

Assembling the Peach Melba
To assemble the dessert, take a wide dessert bowl or a glass. Place 2 peach slices on one side, and add 1-2 scoops of ice cream. Spoon the raspberry sauce over each. You can garnish with some toasted almonds or a sprig of mint if you like. I used some more fresh raspberries just to make it more colorful!

Enjoy your delicious Peach Melba with Vanilla-Cardomom Ice Cream and you'll be able to beat the summer heat!!

Related Recipes:
Panna-Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries
Mango-Mascarpone Mousse(Mango Kulfi)
Raspberry Swiss Roll Cake
Mixed-Berry & White Chocolate Pudding


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34 comments :

amna said...

yep! i can be enslaved with ice cream too ;)

karuna said...

perfect summer treat

Manggy said...

I didn't know you could use cool whip for ice cream! You learn something new every day. :)
That looks really good, esp. as it's 32°C now where I am (that's 89.6°F). I love melba-banana splits-- as you may have guessed, a peach melba served alongside a halved banana :)

J said...

Lovely recipe Mansi!

FH said...

Beautiful colorful dessert Mansi! Delicious. It's been raining here for 5 days but still so hot and humid, perfect dessert for us now!:)

Rachel said...

Now that my kind of indulgence...I indulge in vanilla icecream with strawberry syrup quite oftem...
What I see here is decadent!

Unknown said...

looks delicious...lovely ice cream..

Mike of Mike's Table said...

Cardamom in ice cream is a beautiful thing. This looks like a really delicious dessert

ST said...

Looks mouthwatering and tempting.Gr8 recipie...

Trupti said...

ice cream looks very very ...delicious. I also love ice cream very much

@the_whisk_affair said...

oh wow! the picture is so colorful and tempting mansi...yummy! :-)

Mansi said...

thank you folks! I'm glad you all liked it!

Mike - its coming your way, hold on:)

Manggy - I love cardamom, and this ice cream is truly delicious; the cool-whip tip came from my cusin:)

thanks everyone for all your beautiful comments!

Nahid said...

Yumm. Cardamom and Vanilla, what a combo. must try it, besides hubby loves raspberries

Sailaja said...

Simply irresistible.

Vanamala Hebbar said...

Simply Wonderful .....

Sunshinemom said...

I am sure that tasted great - ingredients are mouth watering by themselves!

Anonymous said...

this is one of my favorite desserts! I love using baked berries too, but I agree, peach is definitely a better choice! love the cardamom ice cream!

~julie

Anonymous said...

delicious! the pic is so temptin!

Sujatha said...

Great exciting recipe for Summer! Very well presented and looks absolutely delight, Mansi!

KALVA said...

Hmm i am ready to take another trip to Gym just to have this!!!

Kalai said...

Peaches are definitely one of my favorite fruits. You've given them the royal treatment here, Mansi! They look so beautiful. :)

Cynthia said...

You are a sinfully, wicked woman by offering such temptation, how can anyone resist? Even those of us who are lactose intolerant? I am definitely going to try that ice cream combo. I plan to use the vanilla bean pod, you think that would be too intense to go with the cardamom?

Mansi said...

Cynthia - I'm flattered by your wicked remarks:) I think vanilla pod would work, but you might want to remove it quickly, just so it does not overpower the cardamom. So when you simmer the pod with the cream, add 3-4 whole cardamom pods too with it; they give more flavor as whole pods when heated.

Then before adding to the ice-cream maker, if you feel the cardamom flavor is less, add a pinch or 2 of cardamom powder...that should prob work well!:)

Bhawana said...

ice cream looks delicious mansi. will try soon. I make a note of ur machurian also :).

Anonymous said...

I love ice creams and this looks perfect for summer. As u said, vanilla always has its position. simple and yummy.

Tee said...

This will be a great dessert after my ''hot thecha'' ;)
Loved the recipe...icecream making is one area i have not ventured into, have to try this soon. :)

Dori said...

Wow, this dessert looks and sounds amazing!!! I can imagine the taste, so perfect for the summer... Send some my way :)

Sonia said...

hmmm...mouth watering...!!! I wud love to make this sweet-treat eventhough we, having winter chilled days here in Australia :))))
Nice recipe Mansi.
Thanks a lot.
Sonu:)

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

That is a delicious looking treat. Its getting cooler here (with the rains) but we are one family that eats ice cream the year round!

Illatharasi said...

Icecream with cardamom flavour.... looks yummy:)

Pick up your award from my blog;)

Anonymous said...

Oh-my-gosh! This ice cream is like one of the best flavours ever!

I use the 1/2 of a vanilla bean and 6 green cardamom pods. I crushed the pods lightly so that they could steep properly. So I heated 1/2 cup of milk with the contents of the vanilla bean and the cardamom pods. When the milk was cool, I removed the pods, chilled the milk and then proceeded with adding more milk and cream and making the ice cream!

Thanks so much for a wonderful ice cream flavor Mansi!

~cynthia

Andrea Meyers (Grow Your Own) said...

That ice cream sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing with Grow Your Own!

Sonia said...

Hi Mansi,
I made Peach Melba & Vanilla -Cardamom Icecream. I also tried ur Vanilla Panna Cotta Balsamic Strawberries. I must say both were just superb!
Thanks for sharing.
Sonu:)

~~louise~~ said...

Hi Mansi,
I was just doing a search in my Hospitality search engine for National Peach Melba Day tomorrow (Jan. 13, 2010) and your delectable link popped up.

I'm doing quick links post for the celebration and was wondering whether you would mind if I "grabbed" this link to include in the post. I would LOVE to include the image too but wouldn't think of it without your permission.

Thank you so much for sharing, it looks heavenly (which is saying a lot considering it's january and about 10 degrees outside:) Louise acalenda [at] gmail [dot] com