Summer’s stone fruits react particularly well to being grilled: their sweetness intensifies in the heat and is countered by a hint of smoke. If you have roses in full bloom when making this dish, it would be a shame not to use the fragrant petals to make the syrup to bathe the fruit.
Waiting until the grill has reduced in heat to a lovely smolder is key here, making this dish perfect to round off the evening. It is delicious served hot with cold vanilla ice cream or, once cooled, with sour cream and some shortbread.
Grilled Stone Fruits With Rosemary and Rose Syrup
A dessert for 4–6
Ingredients
- 4 peaches and/or nectarines
- 6 loquats and/or apricots
- 8 small plums
- 20–24 cherries
- A few sprigs of rosemary
- For the syrup:
- 70 grams/2.5 ounces sugar
- 50 milliliters/1.75 ounces water
- Petals from 2 organic roses (or 1 tablespoon rose water)
- 2 thin slices of lemon
Directions
- You can either place all the fruit on the grill in one go, turning occasionally, and take them off as they cook, or start with the peaches as they will need the longest (about 6–8 minutes), then add the apricots (5–6 minutes), then the plums (about 2–3 minutes), and finally the cherries for just a minute to loosen their flavor and juices.
- Add the whole sprigs of rosemary to the grill for a few seconds to enliven the oils and then put the grilled fruit and rosemary in a serving bowl.
- Mix the sugar with the water, rose petals and lemon slices in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on the side of the grill. Allow to cook for 3 minutes, then carefully pour over the fruit.
(Courtesy Rizzoli)
