Grilling Day, part III: The best for last

Giada DeLaurentis' "Grilled peaches with mascarpone cheese." A combination of white and yellow peaches here.

My mom gave me a copy of Giada DeLaurentis' "Everyday Italian" from a library sale. As such sale books go, it sat on my shelf for months.

Yet every dish -- from her tricolore tomato, mozzarella and basil sandwiches to an amazing roasted red snapper with rosemary -- that we've tried in the book has been an out-of-the-park winner.

So when I saw this simple -- and yet very grilled -- dessert, I knew we had to have it on our menu.

Plus it had that ingredient that I've never used but seen countless times on cooking competition shows -- mascarpone cheese.

It seems to be the chef's equivalent of duct tape. Any time something is in question -- out comes the mascarpone cheese and it saves the day.

This recipe had another ingredient I haven't used too much of -- and when I say used, I mean individual consumption -- brandy.

To get this, I made a stop by a small liquor store and quickly came away with a glass flask in a bag.

To start out, take out your mascarpone cheese container and let it sit out at room temperature so it's easier to work with when you use it as a topping later on.

Cut your peaches in half, remove the pits and then get your grill ready. Since this was pretty much the last thing we grilled, the heat was still going strong in my gas grill-turned charcoal.

Grill the peaches until they have those nice grill marks on them and are starting to soften. Then you dip them in a small bowl that has a few tablespoons each of sugar and brandy (or a splash if you are pouring from a flask) and a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Remove a half cup of mascarpone cheese and a quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix it together. This forms the topping that you will put in the center of each peach.

Plate and serve! We had no idea how much of a hit this would be at our brunch party -- to me, the topping reminded me of ice cream. The peaches were nice and sweet, partly by grilling, part by the sugar and part by the brandy.

We were happy when people came back for seconds. In the future we'll serve more than two halves per person.

It was an extremely nice way to close out our grilled brunch!