Iced Summer Nectarines

Slices of cool, fresh nectarines take on surprisingly concentrated flavors when bathed in a nectar-like wine syrup. This is one of the more intriguing fruit desserts you’ll taste, and there’s nothing to it — merely nectarines, sugar, wine and an interesting technique. We’ve been making it every summer since I first wrote about the dish in The Italian Country Table.

It uses an old trick from country cooks for making decent fruit taste better and superb fruit taste luscious. Macerating sliced fruit with sugar permeates them with sweetness and concentrates their flavors while drawing out their juices into a syrup. Then, marinating the fruit in wine releases still more tastes, because certain flavors are soluble only in alcohol. Use the technique with all stone fruits, berries, pears and apples. It won’t let you down.

Cook to Cook: If nectarines are ripe, peeling is often simply a matter of pulling back their skin with a sharp knife. If need be, dip nectarines very briefly in boiling water. The goal is solely to loosen their skins, never to cook the fruit, as its character would change drastically. Of course, you could leave their skins on as well.

Ingredients

• 4 large ripe, fragrant nectarines, peeled or not, pitted, and sliced into about 8 wedges each

• 5 to 8 tablespoons sugar

• About 1 cup dry white wine (such as Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, or Arneis)

• 4 to 6 sprigs fresh mint or lemon verbena

Instructions

1. Layer the nectarines in an attractive glass serving bowl, sprinkling each layer with a tablespoon or so of sugar. (Use less sugar rather than more.) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours.

2. Taste the nectarines for sweetness, adding more sugar as needed. Pour in the wine to barely cover, turning the fruit gently with a spatula to blend. Cover again and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours.

3. Take the fruit out of the refrigerator 30 to 45 minutes before serving. Present the nectarines by spooning them and their liquid into bowls or wineglasses and finishing with sprigs of mint or lemon verbena.