National Peach Melba Day

I have not posted the National Days in a while. Today is National Peach Melba Day.

From Wikipedia: The Peach Melba is a classic dessert, invented in 1892 or 1893 by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London to honour the Australian soprano, Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931). It combines two favourite summer fruits: peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream.

Here is a classic Peach Melba recipe:

Peach Melba
3 peaches
syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 pint of vanilla ice cream

melba sauce
2 cups raspberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar

optional
whipped cream
toasted almond

Remove the skin from the peaches. Slice in half and remove pits.
Make the syrup, bring the sugar, water and lemon juice to a boil.
Remove from the heat and add vanilla and the peaches, let syrup cool with the peaches.
Meanwhile make the melba sauce by pureeing raspberries with the lemon juice.
Strain if desired and add sugar to taste.

Set it up:
Remove peaches from syrup and place a half in a bowl pit side up.
Place a scoop for vanilla ice cream and cover with raspberry sauce.
If desired garnish with whipped cream and toasted almonds.

A few other recipes I found - from the Food Network Emeril's Peach Melba recipe and on A Good Appetite Blog I found a Peach Melba Cupcake that looks pretty tasty. I wish fresh peaches were in season I would love to make a Peach Melba. Hurry up summertime!