The Bellini is another one of those recipes which is far better known in the USA than it is in Italy. The original Recipe is authentically Italian however.  Barmen over the years have added various ingredients, peach schnapps etc., but the original is extremely simple, and in my opinion better.  It was invented by Giuseppe Cipriani  at Harry’s Bar in Venice in the 1930s . It is named after Giovanni Bellini, a fifteenth century Venetian painter. Being Italian, it should be made with Prosecco, not Champagne, but you can use Champagne if you can’t find any of the good stuff ;)

• Ripe white peaches (never yellow)
• Prosecco (Spumante has more bubbles than Frizzante, use whichever you prefer)

Peel the peaches and remove the stones. The recommended method is to grate the flesh and then pass it through a sieve. I use a hand cranked food mill, sometimes known as a mouli. A food processor is said to aerate the purée too much. If it isn’t sweet enough for you, you can add sugar or simple syrup at this stage.

Put the purée in the freezer until it is almost frozen, but still soft.

Put a few spoons of purée into an iced glass. You can use a straight glass, or a champagne flute. Top up with iced Prosecco. Gently stir to mix the two ingredients. The proportions should be one part peach to three parts Prosecco.

Filed under: Cocktail, Peach, Prosecco, Recipe Tagged: Bellini, cocktail, Italian recipe, peach