Monday, August 22, 2005

Peaches En Regalia

That's right, it's not just an incredible Frank Zappa song anymore!

Last night, contrary to Reb's prediction, we did not in fact invent the Shindell (which was to be like a dirty martini but made with pickles and pickle juice). We're probably all better off for not having done that. And, anyway, I did something much much better.

I improvised last night and produced, I think, the best dessert I've ever made. I thought I'd let you know the specifics and if any of you recognize it -- if it sounds like anything you know of -- let me know. Maybe I could improve it with a few hints from a recipe.

I bought these delicious white peaches and a little blue box of blackberries yesterday morning at the farmers' market in Takoma Park, MD. They were really not intended to be dessert, but they wound up being my two primary ingredients. Here's what I did to them:

1. I halved the peaches and sprinkled a tiny bit of salt and raw sugar on the cut side.
2. I left the cut side up and put them under a broiler (set on low heat) for about five or six minutes.
3. Meanwhile, on the stove I melted a little more than a half-stick of butter (maybe 3/4 of a stick, who can remember).
4. Into the melted butter I mixed in about 3 teaspoons of sugar (maybe more).
5. I then put in about a dozen large blackberries and let them simmer in the butter and sugar.
6. When the sauce had turned a deep red, I pressed the blackberries with a spoon, squashed them, broke them up, and stirred them into the sauce.
7. I then added 3 or 4 tablespoons of port to the sauce.
8. When the peaches came out from under the broiler, I scooped the solid parts of the blackberries (what was left of them) into the centers of the peaches, then I drizzled the liquid sauce over the cut side of the peaches.

By a weird coincidence, and not with any plan to use it that night, we happened to have a box of this odd ice cream that was flavored with cinnamon and cayenne pepper. I put a scoop of that on the plate next to each peach, not knowing if the two would go together well. Surprisingly, they seemed to compliment each other nicely. The sweetness of the warm peach and its sauce beside the spicy flavor of the cold ice cream seemed right.

Try this recipe at your own risk. If you do, let me know what you think.

1 Comments:

At 10:14 PM, Reb said...

It was a delicious dessert. As was the meal. Thanks for having us over. Sorry Gideon was a miserable SOB. He got three naps today and was literally an ANGEL this evening. Totally different baby. I swear.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

 My Photo
Name: Matthew Shindell
Location: San Diego, California, United States

Matthew Shindell used to live and write in Phoenix, Arizona. He now lives and writes in La Jolla, California.

The Poetry Postcard Project:

Stay tuned to this blog for updates on the status of the Poetry Postcard Project.

Go to the Poetry Postcard Project website to see the project and find out how to participate.

My Vocabulary Radio Show:

Find out about My Vocabulary, the weekly poetry radio show hosted by Matthew Shindell and James Meetze.

Where are my poems?

Read a PDF of my chapbook, Were something to happen it would be both funny and interesting. Copies of this limited edition chapbook are no longer available.

American Letters and Commentary (Coming Soon) - "Hoo Ta Ta, Hoo Ta"

American Poetry Review July/August 2004 - "It sounds like a saxophone tugging across a field"

Black Warrior Review v30n2 - "Sidekick"

FENCE v6n2 - "Drinking with the Ventriloquist's Dummy" & "Parable of the Boy inside the Deer"

Hayden's Ferry Review #25 - "The Willow"

Hayden's Ferry Review #35 - "The Monkey's Skull: Where Do Good Newsmen Come From?" & "Made Easy"

Jubilat 7 - "But Emerson Says, 'The body is a metre. The eye appreciates finer differences than art can expose."

The Melic Review - "In Short, a Pleasant Day :: The Man Arrives, Hooray!" "The Same Words :: Order of Harpoons," & "A Bird’s Head Rolls Into Two Baskets :: Walkie-Talkie"

No Tell Motel - "Order of Harpoons :: Digitalia :: Dobre Vecher" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Read my discussion of the poem here.

Northwest Review - "Clink" & "Bear-Caught"

Octopus 4 - "About the Author," "Four Star General" &
"The Day :: Born :: The Red Door"


Pleiades 24:2 - "Speech of Artificio, a Character in My New Play" & "Inc."

Tarpaulin Sky v2n2&3 -
"Two Jokes About Bears"


Unpleasant Event Schedule - "He Called Her Forest (or was it Forest?)" & "The Brain Full of Bourbon (concerning the doctor and the simulation of Switzerland)"

Widget_logo
Read my online poetic project, Jubilee's Daughters, the ongoing and evolving tale of Isabgol in Ronomok.

Listen to my Pandora station? Why not?

Online Poetry Magazines

B A L A K L A V A
Can we have our ball back?
Castagraf
Conjunctions
Double Change
Drunken Boat
Ducky
Failbetter
Gut Cult
HOW2
H_NGM_N
Jacket
La Petite Zine
LVNG
Mark(s)
Moria
No Tell Motel
Octopus
Piplit
PomPom
Puppyflowers
Shampoo
Slope
Tarpaulin Sky
The Canary
Typo
Unpleasant Event Schedule
Word For/ Word

Archives


02/06/2005 - 02/13/2005
02/13/2005 - 02/20/2005
02/20/2005 - 02/27/2005
02/27/2005 - 03/06/2005
03/06/2005 - 03/13/2005
03/13/2005 - 03/20/2005
03/20/2005 - 03/27/2005
03/27/2005 - 04/03/2005
04/03/2005 - 04/10/2005
04/10/2005 - 04/17/2005
04/17/2005 - 04/24/2005
04/24/2005 - 05/01/2005
05/01/2005 - 05/08/2005
05/08/2005 - 05/15/2005
05/22/2005 - 05/29/2005
05/29/2005 - 06/05/2005
06/05/2005 - 06/12/2005
06/12/2005 - 06/19/2005
06/19/2005 - 06/26/2005
06/26/2005 - 07/03/2005
07/10/2005 - 07/17/2005
07/17/2005 - 07/24/2005
07/24/2005 - 07/31/2005
07/31/2005 - 08/07/2005
08/07/2005 - 08/14/2005
08/14/2005 - 08/21/2005
08/21/2005 - 08/28/2005
08/28/2005 - 09/04/2005
09/04/2005 - 09/11/2005
09/11/2005 - 09/18/2005
09/18/2005 - 09/25/2005
10/02/2005 - 10/09/2005
10/09/2005 - 10/16/2005
10/16/2005 - 10/23/2005
11/06/2005 - 11/13/2005
11/20/2005 - 11/27/2005
11/27/2005 - 12/04/2005
12/04/2005 - 12/11/2005
12/11/2005 - 12/18/2005
12/18/2005 - 12/25/2005
01/01/2006 - 01/08/2006
01/15/2006 - 01/22/2006
01/22/2006 - 01/29/2006
03/12/2006 - 03/19/2006
05/21/2006 - 05/28/2006
06/11/2006 - 06/18/2006
07/02/2006 - 07/09/2006
07/16/2006 - 07/23/2006
07/23/2006 - 07/30/2006
09/10/2006 - 09/17/2006
12/10/2006 - 12/17/2006
02/11/2007 - 02/18/2007
09/02/2007 - 09/09/2007

Blogroll Me!

visits since March 30, 2004.

Powered by Blogger