GRILLED STONE FRUITS WITH ROSEMARY & ROSE SYRUP Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich

Serves 4-6

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 barbecue has reduced in heat to a lovely smoulder 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.

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:

70g sugar

Petals from 2 organic roses (or 1 tbsp rose water)

2 thin slices of lemon

Method

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 mins), then add the apricots (5-6 mins), then the plums (about 2-3 mins) and finally the cherries for just a minute to loosen their flavour and juices. Add the whole sprigs of rosemary to the grill for a few secs to enliven the oils and then put the grilled fruit and rosemary in a serving bowl.

Mix the sugar with 50ml 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 mins, then carefully pour over the fruit.

Recipe from Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant (Pavilion Books)

Peaches

Turnips

Plums

Ted’s Veg Cherries

Elsey & Bent