Peach Parfait

In 5 minutes? Yeah right...

If I was on the red team in Masterchef Australia's latest elimination challenge, I would have been sent home in 2 minutes flat.
First, the contestants had to cook something- anything they want- in 20 minutes. 
20 minutes?? I take 20 minutes to decide what I'm going to make! Then another half an hour to chop all my ingredients...
Those who didn't make it though the first round had to face the same challenge, but this time with only 10 minutes.
And then the final 2 were left.
We all knew it, we all dreaded it, but we didn't believe they would be so cruel: 
Cook something in 5 minutes.
We sat there dumbfounded. "What on earth can you cook in 5 measly minutes!?" "Fry an egg?" "Make a peanut butter sandwich?" "Make some chocolate milk?"
But there's a reason why you and I aren't on Masterchef... we can't think up, prepare, make and serve the dishes that Julia and Mario presented.

This parfait is inspired by Julia's strawberry-basil and yoghurt parfait with caramelised macadamia nuts.
I made mine with peaches and almonds instead and left out the basil, because I wan't sure how it would taste. 
But I took my time... I measured out some yoghurt... whipped it a bit... peeled my peach... puréed it... chopped the almonds... debated whether to follow Julia and caramelise them in maple syrup, or use honey, which I like the taste of... ended up adding a little dollop of both... I spooned the yoghurt in carefully... spread the peach perfectly... gently covered it with more yoghurt... and decorated it with the almonds, while eating the hardened caramel on the spoon...

That's how I like to cook.

This parfait was a success: light, fresh and sweet but natural. I had a cherry parfait at Starbucks in the Munich airport, and after half of it I was fed up: the cherry layer was so sweet, so fake, so brightly traffic-light red that I felt like I was eating cough medicine.
And the nuts... caramelising them with both honey and maple syrup was perfect.
My mum even asked me to make them as the dessert for a lunch we're having tomorrow! 
My first order ;)