La Vita Dolce – The Sweet Life … a book

La Vita Dolce is not the cookbook I need at the moment, not when the covid kilos have happily teamed up with the Christmas spread to make themselves at home!... However...This book by Letitia Clark, a celebration of Italian-inspired desserts is sunshine itself with the added bonus of a virtual trip to Sardinia. So with a lot of holiday/covid time on my hands and the Queen of Deserts Alison Chamberlain in Tasmania, I've jumped right in.. I started with this, roast stuffed peaches with almond crumble, which is pretty simple...and way too delicious!

Find out more about Letitia Clark and her life on the Lee Mathews Journal. I've moved onto the Strawberry and Whole Lemon Sorbetto and the Peach and Basil Sorbet... they take all day ( I don't have an ice cream maker ) so I'm having to work around - my much needed swims. La Vita Dolce indeed!

Roast Stuffed Peaches. with Almond Crumble

Serves 8

4 firm but fragrant peaches
80g ( 3oz ) amaretti biscuits
30g ( 1oz ) whole almonds ( un blanched or blanched )
1tbsp Demerara sugar
30g ( 1oz ) butter
30g( 1 oz /1/4cup) )) or plain all purpose flour
pinch of salt
zest of 1/2 a lemon

To Finish
small glass of Amaretto ( optional ) Try this Australian Amaretto White Possum
mascarpone or vanilla ice cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 C

Rinse and dry the peaches and cut them in half, Remove and discard the stones.
Blitz all of the remaining ingredients together in a blender, ( if you don't have a blender, crush the biscuits by hand, chop the almonds and rub everything together in a bowl as if you were making a crumble mixture.) Once you have a camel-brown crumb, take a walnut-sized pieces of mixture in your hand and squeeze, forming 8 rough balls, Press each ball into the hole of each peach half to create a false stone.
Place the perches in a baking dish and sprinkle over the Amaretto ( if using) Transfer to the oven and bake for a up to 1 hour, until the peaches are just brown, and slightly shrivelled inside their now ill-fitting jackets. They should be tender when tested with the tip of a knife.
Allow to cool slightly, then serve with a glass of Amaretto ( check out the Australian White Possum ) if you like. This is also good served with a blob of mascarpone or vanilla ice cream or the Milk ice cream from Mapo