Peach Melba with Blackberry Sauce

Summer is the perfect time of year to build a dessert around fresh fruit - take advantage of peaches and blackberries for this one. Make sure to peel, halve and pit the three peaches ahead of time, since once the cooking liquid gets going you need to stir.

In a saucepan, combine 3/4 cup water and half a cup raw sugar over medium heat. Cut a one-inch piece of vanilla bean in half, and scrape the seeds into the pan. Add the vanilla bean. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, and once simmering, cook an additional ten minutes (I assumed I should still stir this whole time).

Add your six peach halves, and simmer 5 minutes just until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon or fork, so you don't lose any liquid, and set aside.

Bring the sugar mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until reduced to about a 1/4 cup (5 minutes). Remove the vanilla bean and add one cup fresh blackberries. Cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cool the mixture for 5 minutes before pouring it into a food processor or blender and processing until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve over a bowl and discard the solids.

On each of three plates, scoop 1/2 cup vanilla soy ice cream (such as the low-fat Soy Delicious Vanilla from Turtle Mountain: http://www.turtlemountain.com/). Top each serving of ice cream with two peach halves and 2 and a half tablespoons blackberry sauce. 290 calories.

Cost:
vanilla bean $5.99
peaches $2.11
blackberries $2.99
soy vanilla ice cream $3.00