Peaches Flambé

One of my favorite childhood memories is making bananas flambé with my dad. Sliced bananas, raisins, brown sugar, Grand Marnier, and, of course, fire! Poured over a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream, it was definitely a treat. Every once in a while we would make peaches flambé, too. I'm pretty sure that bottle of Grand Marnier lasted for at least seven years.

Well, Lissa brought home some peaches and vanilla ice cream, and though I didn't have any Grand Marnier, I did have some Amaretto. Peaches and almonds are wonderful together. I was quite excited.


First the peaches got a quick dunk in boiling water so the skins would slide off easily. Then I diced them up and tossed them in to a hot saute pan with a tablespoon of butter. Once the peaches soften up a bit and release some of their juices, I turn the heat down to medium and add in some brown sugar. These peaches were pretty ripe (and sweet) so I didn't want to use too much sugar, especially since they would eventually end up over ice cream. If they weren't completely ripe, I would have added a bit more azúcar.



The sugar will start to caramelize, I turn the heat back up to high and (carefully) pour in the Amaretto. If you are cooking with gas, tilt the pan so the flame will ignite the alcohol, otherwise use a match or lighter to get your flambé on. Let it reduce down and thicken up a bit, and you're done! You can spoon it over your ice cream (or in this case gelato, Talenti Tahitian Vanilla Bean Gelato to be specific) right away or let it cool for a couple of minutes so it doesn't melt your frozen cream so much. That's it. It is such an easy way to spruce up vanilla ice cream, and you can do it with just about any fruit and any liquor or liqueur. I have tried lots of different combos...apples and brandy, mangoes and tequila, strawberries and midori....go crazy. There's no reason to stop at fruit, liquor, sugar and butter, either. Add some spices, some herbs, use two fruits, or two liquors, or any number of the bajillion different ice cream flavors that are out there...toss on some chopped nuts!....The possibilities are endless. I love consulting my flavor bible for inspiring combinations, if you haven't checked that book out yet, do so. Happy flambé-ing everyone!

Oh yeah, thanks dad ;^)