Bluedot Living will regularly run recipes and tips from Pascale Beale, the popular Santa Barbara-based chef, teacher, and cookbook author.
Beale has long been a proponent of cooking with in-season ingredients. “Every season has its own stars, I believe it’s worth waiting for them,” Beale told Bluedot contributing editor Catherine Walthers in this conversation.
She is also passionate about using every last bit of food in your pantry, and in her regular cooking classes (available online), she stresses to make the most of what you’ve already got. “There is so, so much food waste,” she told Walthers. “Learn to make the most of leftovers, the carcass from a roast chicken kept to make stock for example. I like to do something called a TDF (Tour de Frigidaire), something made out of all the little bits and pieces left in the fridge.”
This recipe first appeared in Beale’s cookbook, Les Fruits: Savory and Sweet Recipes From the Market Table, where she wrote:
I recently taught a class in which we made a lemon syllabub. Don’t you love that word? Syllabub – sounds like something that came out of a Dickens novel or a Jane Austen book perhaps. I found this historical tidbit whilst searching the term. Peek inside the Universal Cook: and City and Country Housekeeper, written in 1792 by John Francis Collingwood and John Woollams, cooks at The Crown and Anchor Pub in the Strand in London, and you will find three recipes for syllabub including this one, which is priceless: “A Syllabub Under a Cow. Having put a bottle of red or white wine, ale or cyder [sic], into a china bowl, sweeten it with sugar, and grate in some nutmeg. Then hold it under the cow, and milk into it until it has a fine froth on the top. Strew over it a handful of currants cleaned, washed, and picked, and plumbed before the fire.”
No, I did not suggest to everyone in the class that they rush out to the nearest farm to milk a cow directly into their sweetened wine, although that would be something to behold. This is a whipped cream concoction that has a touch of wine and sugar in it. It’s pretty much the perfect match for any fruit. Most of all it’s easy to make and utterly delicious.
Print
RECIPE: Caramelized Nectarines with a Lemon Syllabub
- Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients
For the syllabub:
- 1/2 cup sweet white wine or other dessert wine
- 5 oz (3/4 cup) organic sugar
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
For the nectarines:
- 8 nectarines — halved, pitted, and sliced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 oz sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
Instructions
For the syllabub:
- Chill a bowl in the fridge until it is very cold.
- In a separate bowl, combine the wine, sugar, lemon zest and juice, and stir to dissolve. Refrigerate this mixture for at least 30 minutes.
- Pour the cream into the chilled bowl and whisk the mixture until it barely forms soft peaks. Do not over beat. Add the chilled wine-lemon mixture gradually to the cream, whisking continuously, until it forms soft peaks. Refrigerate the syllabub until you are ready to serve the dessert.
For the nectarines:
- Place the nectarine slices into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Warm the butter, sugar and vanilla paste in a small saucepan over low heat. When the sugar has dissolved, pour the mixture over the nectarines and toss to coat.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the nectarine slices for 3-4 minutes, turning them occasionally, until just browned and starting to render their juice. Divide the nectarine slices and pan juices among eight serving bowls or jars and spoon some of the syllabub on top. Serve immediately.
