Sweet Marscarpone Polenta with Roasted Nectarines

Ingredients

  • Blueberry Sauce
  • 1 1/2 cups port
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 8 ounces fresh or frozen blueberries
  • Place port, sugar, and lime juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue to boil for 8 minutes. Stir in blueberries and, if using frozen ones, reheat the sauce (but do not boil).
  • Roasted Nectarines
  • 3 cups real maple syrup
  • minced zest of 2 oranges
  • 6 ripe nectarines, cut in half from top to bottom and pitted
  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine maple syrup, orange zest, and 1/2 cup water in a baking dish. Place nectarines, cut side down, in the dish. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, take off foil, and set aside at room temperature.
  • Mascarpone Polenta
  • 5 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
  • 1 tablespoon ground canela or 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups coarse cornmeal
  • 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar, for dusting
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for griddling

Preparation

Step 1

Place the milk, salt, vanilla extract, vanilla bean and seeds, canela, and granulated sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Slowly stir in cornmeal with a wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat until the polenta no longer has a grainy texture and firms up when you spoon it onto a plate, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in mascarpone. Spoon into a baking pan (about 7 by 11 inches). Smooth out with a spatula and let cool.

Cut into serving-size triangles, dust both sides with powdered sugar, and lightly griddle in butter.