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
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.
