Peach Bellinis

Tweet

While in Italy earlier this month, I sampled some of the local bebitas (a very important Italian word that I got very well-acquainted with, meaning...drinks!); wine, beer, and even a bellini.  Ok, two bellinis.  But it was happy hour so technically with every drink purchased I saved more and more money.  It's basic financial management.  Plus...talk about delicious.

Back on this side of the globe, a few girlfriends from work and I have started a Supper Club, and last Saturday night was our first dinner.  The idea of Supper Club is that we get together every couple of months, sometimes with spouses and sometimes just the girls, and eat and drink.  Everything I love.

We all take turns hosting, and the host makes the main course, while the others take a turn at a course such as appetizer, soup/salad, dessert, and drinks.  We pick the theme and divvy up courses ahead of time by throwing names and theme ideas into a hat.  Themes can be anything...cuisine of a certain country, breakfast for dinner, all-meat, all-garlic (ok, that's just my dream theme)...anything goes.

Last Saturday's theme was...ITALIAN!!!!

The course I was put in charge of was...DRINKS!!!!

I'm on it, girls.

I found this Giada De Laurentiis recipe for bellinis online, and it was a major hit with the girls at Supper Club.  It's very simple to make, and a fun, tasty, 'something different' drink to serve at a girls night.



After I was already part-way through making the recipe, I realized that I didn't have the fine-mesh strainer that the recipe called for.  So, I improvised:

Massive FAIL.  Don't try it.

I then just used a regular strainer and it seemed to do the trick.

Supper Club's Italian night menu was scrumptious:  Caprese salad, prosciutto and burrata cheese, orzo-stuffed peppers (Giada!), balsamic chicken (Giada again!), broccolini, gelato with strawberries, limoncello that I brought back from a lemon farm that I visited in Italy, and bellinis.

Bottoms up!!!

Bellinis

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
3 (16-ounce) bags frozen peaches, thawed
1 tsp grated orange peel
4 to 6 (750 mL) bottles Prosecco or other sparkling wine, chilled
Raspberries or orange peel twists, for garnish

Directions
Stir the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.  Cool completely.

Puree the thawed peaches and orange peel in a blender with 1 1/2 cups of the sugar syrup until smooth.

Millions of peaches, peaches for me!

Strain through a fine-meshed strainer and into a bowl.  Transfer the puree into a small pitcher or clear glass bowl.

For each serving, pour 2 to 4 tablespoons of the peach puree into a Champagne flute.  Slowly pour enough Prosecco into the flute to fill.  Gently stir to blend.  Garnish each flute with a raspberry or an orange peel twist, and serve.  OMG!!!
















Supper Club Gals' Review:  "MEGAN, THESE BELLINIS ARE SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!"

Recipe Source:  Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis