You can never have enough dessert recipes, especially during the mid-summer, when peaches are at their peak. I have taken one of my favorite methods of cooking— stove top pan-roasting—and used this technique to create this heavenly dessert, revealing gorgeous roasted peaches, shimmering with caramelized fruit juices. Other seasonal summer fruits, like nectarines, plums or apricots, also work very well. Make a good thing even better and accent the caramel notes of the peaches by finishing off with this homemade salted caramel sauce dripped over vanilla ice cream, or a spoonful of creamy mascarpone cheese.
Ingredients
- 3 firm peaches, cut in half and pitted
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½–¾ cup infused honey (recipe below)
- Pinch of sea salt
- Vanilla ice cream or mascarpone cheese, optional
- 1 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons dried lavender
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
Preparation
To pan-roast the peaches, heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and warm the butter with about ½–¾ cup of infused honey in the hot pan with a generous pinch of sea salt. Once the butter has melted, arrange the fruit in the skillet, cut side down. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes without disturbing the fruit, until the cut sides begin to brown and caramelize. Reduce the heat to low and continue to pan-roast for another 5 minutes* or so, until fork tender. Flip the peaches over and baste with the honey butter and caramelized juices, then remove from heat.
*The total cooking time will depend on the ripeness of your peaches or stone fruit; firm fruit is better than super soft for this recipe.
Transfer pan-roasted fruit to serving dishes. Drizzle the honey butter sauce from the pan over the roasted peaches. Dollop some ice cream or mascarpone cheese on top and serve immediately, with some extra sauce on the side.
FOR THE INFUSED HONEY (make ahead)
Infuse the honey with lavender and rosemary according to the directions here and let sit for about a week.
Store any remaining infused honey in a covered jar for other uses; it’s wonderful drizzled over fresh summer fruit or as a sweetener for hot or iced teas.
