Panna Cotta à la Verveine et Pêches Blanches Rôties

The taste of late summer captured in a single cool, trembling spoonful

 

There is something beautifully French about panna cotta when it is scented with herbs. Lemon verbena, especially, feels like a secret whispered by the garden. Its perfume is citrus and meadow, delicate yet insistent, and when infused into warm cream it becomes the sort of aroma that lingers on your sleeve long after you leave the kitchen.

 

We serve it with roasted white peaches — the kind that bruise if you breathe too heavily near them. A short rest in the oven deepens their perfume, caramelizes their edges, and turns their juices into a syrup the color of blushing dusk.

 

This dessert is modern in the way good French cooking has always been modern: simple, intentional, and generous to the senses. It has the softness of silk, the brightness of citrus, and the quiet luxury of a dish that doesn’t try to impress you, only to delight you.

 

There is no rush preparing it. The panna cotta chills while you pour yourself a glass of wine. The peaches roast as the evening settles around you. And when you finally sit down, spoon in hand, the entire world seems to exhale.

 

 

Recipe

 

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 400 ml heavy cream (1 ⅔ cups)

• 100 ml whole milk (½ cup)

• 70 g sugar (2.5 oz)

• 4 g powdered gelatin (½ packet) + 2 tbsp cold water

• A handful of fresh lemon verbena leaves

• 2 white peaches, halved

• 1 tbsp honey (15 ml)

• 1 tbsp butter (15 g)

 

Instructions

Bloom the gelatin by sprinkling it over cold water. Heat cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan until steaming but not boiling. Remove from heat and add lemon verbena. Cover and steep 10 minutes. Strain and stir in the softened gelatin until dissolved.

 

Pour into four small glasses or moulds and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

 

For the peaches, place halves in a small dish, dot with butter, drizzle with honey and roast at 180°C (350°F) for 15 minutes until tender and lightly caramelized.

 

Serve the panna cotta with a warm peach half and a spoonful of its syrup.

 

Wine pairing

 

A chilled Viognier from the Rhône Valley, fragrant with apricot and honeysuckle, completes the dessert like a final chord resolving a melody.