Going Away Peaches

I went with some friends to pick fruit in the valley. It was a beautifully hot summer day. I mean really hot - like in the 90's! I must miss summer. There is something about sitting around outside at night when the sun goes down... accompanied by a grill and a tasty beverage... to me that spells summer. We don't get many warm nights so we have to create our own feeling of summer. Delicious summer fruits help complete my illusion.

We picked peaches and plums. I have only picked apples and strawberries back in the good ol' midwest. (We had really good apples by the way.) It was fun. They said we could eat as much as we wanted in the orchard, if only the birds hadn't eaten the good ones! The farm we visited was pesticide free and organic, allowing those pesky birds to bite a little of each perfectly ripe peach. We picked some ripe and others that needed some time, which I appreciated because I had no idea yet what I might bake with them. They sat in the fruit bowl until they started to get a little soft. Panic mode set in and I feared I wouldn't decide in time and they might all turn to mush before I could make anything delicious.

I decided on Sunday that I was going to roast some and serve them with ice cream. I wanted to make something special for my husband who was leaving again on business the following day. He missed the fruit picking, and these peaches were too good not to share. I'm not sure why I haven't tried this before it was so fantastic. Truly simple too. If you are looking for an impressive dessert without the fuss you should try the recipe below. I created a simple syrup to roast the peaches and added vanilla bean. I was tempted with the idea of a white wine syrup reduction infused with rosemary, but we opted for the trusted vanilla bean. Good choice love. I think a half a peach would be plenty with a large dollop of vanilla ice cream - we ate a whole peach ourselves and felt very full. Well worth it. Definitely worth it.

I hear the Colorado peaches are coming into season, so those of you back home have something to look forward to. Check out Use Real Butter blog for another great peach dessert. I might make this one next.

Vanilla Bean Roasted Peaches

1 T butter melted

1/2 C white wine

1 tsp honey

juice from half a lemon

1 vanilla bean seeded

2 T sugar

2 peaches ripe but firm

preheat oven to 400˚. cut peaches in half seed, and set aside. in a shallow baking dish, whisk all of the ingredients together (add bean pods too). Place peaches cut side up and spoon some liquid over the top. bake in oven for 25 minutes, turning and basting half way through. remove from oven place in serving dish with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream. spoon some syrup on top. If you don't have vanilla beans just substitute 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.