But I had already set my hopes on having nectarines for dessert, and I was in no mood to wait for the things to ripen. So I chopped 'em up and cooked them over low heat for a long while, and the result was lovely. You would never know they were under-ripe because heat does amazing things to fruit. Beautiful things. Things that should be paired with ice cream or crumbled cookies or plain old heavy cream.
A big plus for this recipe? You only have to turn on your stove, not the oven - something every food writer on the continent apparently thinks is ghastly and unthinkable in the current heat. I'm not so sure, but whatevs. The point is, if you're one of those people who live in Texas or Alabama and the thought of adding more heat to your life via the oven is too much to even contemplate, this recipe is for you. Grab some ice water and take a breath: you'll barely break a sweat making it.
Actually, there won't be much sweating involved period because the ultimated pairing with any summer fruit is, of course, frigid ice cream. Eating the warm, caramalized nectarines/peaches/whatever stone fruit you use with ice cream is like having ice cream with pie . . . but with a fraction of the work. The warm fruit is sweet and slighty tart; the ice cream is cold and delicious, making a duo that's refreshing, light, and sweet. The perfect summer dessert, in other words.
Sadly, you may note in the picture above that there's no ice cream, only cream. Cream is perfectly acceptable substitue in the event you find your freezer stocked only with say, mint chocolate chip ice cream. You can't really see it in the picture, but I poured cold cream, then topped it off with some maple syrup for sweetness. Maybe a little weird, but it's the healthiest dessert I've had in a while.
Also - one last tiny note. I thrifted that gorgeous plate for 25 cents. I feel this is very important information.
Helpful Tips:
This recipe is inspired by pie filling, so it has cinnamon and a hit of lemon in it. Feel free to adjust according to your taste. Actually, when reading the recipe below, feel free to pretend that "or more to taste" follows everything listed after " 10 peaches".
You're basically pan-frying the fruit, then steaming them in water, sugar, and their own juices. In other words, maximizing deliciousness. As because as the water evaporates, the sugar and spices caramalize into a simple, perfect glaze.
You can make this with any stone fruit you can get your hands on: peaches, apricots, nectarines, etc. It'll work for over-ripe and under-ripe fruit, just adjust your cooking time according.
To fancify this recipe, simply cut the stone fruit in half and cook cut-side down, then serve with a scoop of ice cream in glass bowl and top with chopped pecans or walnuts. Yum.
You can peel the fruit if you really want to, but I didn't bother. It's not necessary.
This also makes a great breakfast. Not that I'd know or anything.
Caramelized Nectarines
10 small nectarines or 5-6 large peaches
2 tablespoons of butter
1/4 - 1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
half a lemon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of water
Cut peaches into slices. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat, add peaches and slightly increase heat. Don't move peaches for 5-10 minutes - wait for them to brown. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over top. Add vanilla, squeeze the lemon over top, toss in pinch of salt. Add water, cover with lid or foil. Forget about it for 15-20 minutes, or until fruit can easily be pierced with fork, then consume with vanilla ice cream. Or Dulce de leche ice cream if you want to get really fancy.
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