Collyn made this when we were at Brigantine this summer, and it was so tasty it could have been a dessert, but light enough that we ate it as part of our breakfast. The sauce is basically a deconstructed caramel, and it complements the summer peaches really well – topped with some fresh basil (have the basil plants you’ve been finding at your Farmers’ Market this month been as crazily, awesomely overgrown as mine have?), this takes on a little more freshness too.
CARAMELIZED SUMMER PEACHES WITH BASIL (serves 4 for sweet sides)
– 3 peaches, sliced into 1/4 inch wedges (leave skin on or off, it’s up to you)
– small handful of chiffonaded basil
– 3 tbsp. butter
– 3 tbsp. brown sugar
– 1 tsp. vanilla
– 1 tbsp. water
1. In a larger pan over medium heat, melt the butter, stirring until it starts to get a little bit brown.
2. Add the brown sugar, and stir. Stir. Stir. Make sure all those sugar granuals melt and really incorporate into the butter.
3. Add vanilla, stir to combine. At this point it might start to look a little solidified. If it does, turn down the heat and add the 1 tbsp water. Tada – thin caramel sauce. Don’t taste this – it will be super, super hot and probably really burn your tongue. Not, of course, like I would know.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the peaches, mix to warm the peach slices. Chiffonade some basil and toss that in there too, mix it all up.
This doesn’t keep really well, so make sure to eat it within an hour or so (which is prob. not going to be too hard to do).
Thanks for the recipe, Colly!