When I was a kid, one of my family’s favorite restaurants was Amarone, on 48th & 9th. The service was wonderful and the fresh pasta was to-die-for (still is), but my favorite part of the meal at Amarone was always dessert, because I always got the same thing: peach sorbet served up in frozen, hollowed-out peaches.
You can make this at home in a pinch, and it’s such a beautiful, elegant – and surprising – dessert to serve your guests. Just take a fresh, ripe peach, remove the top (set aside for later) and slice off the bottom (to create a level surface), and then hollow out the rest (obviously saving the pulp to make Bellinis the next morning). Fill with store-bought peach sorbet (I love Haagen-Dazs Fat-Free Orchard Peach Sorbet) and replace the top (set off a little to one side, as pictured above). Place peach on wax paper and freeze at least 2 hours, and then serve garnished with some mint leaves or alongside a small cup of freshly whipped cream. Encourage your guests to scoop out the sorbet with a spoon and then to nibble on the frozen peach itself.
You can also create variations on this dish using hollowed out lemons, mangoes, coconuts, nectarines, pears, and melons…just be sure to fill with a corresponding (or complimentary) sorbet. A fun idea: ask each of your guests what their favorite fruit is, and then create individualized desserts for each.
Image via Flickr.
