Quick post: Bellini in memoriam

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend.  And while we honor those who have given their lives for this country and our freedoms, I choose to celebrate my freedom with, well, a frozen bellini.

I don't like white wine.  Never have.  Don't know why.  But, I do like champagne.  In fact, I like her, in my opinion, tastier cousins, cava (from Spain) and prosecco (from Italy) a lot.

I'm sure you know this, but champagne actually has to come from the champagne region in France.  The French regulate their booze much like they do their language - strictly (is that a word?).  So, if there is a sparkling white wine out there that calls itself "champagne" but is made out on Long Island, NY, it's breaking French law.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to break French law.  I'd be afraid they'd remove all of my access to soft cheeses.  Oh, the manatee (as my fiance says)!

But in a drink like this, it doesn't really matter whether you're using a non-country-specific sparkling white wine, Cava, Prosecco, or even the real deal, Champagne.  You're whirring it up with frozen fruit, so let's be clear, the subtleties will be lost.  Don't spend a lot on whatever sparkling white wine you're going to put in this drink.

While we were shopping last night (yes, we lead a very exciting life, doing our grocery shopping on Saturday night), I decided a frozen bellini would be my drink of choice.  So, I bought a massive bag of frozen peaches.  I figured that if I don't use all of it for bellinis, I'd still be able to eat them thawed and with the Fage 0% greek yogurt that I frequently have for breakfast.  No product loss predicted.

I filled about 2/3 of my blender with frozen peaches and poured in about a cup of sparkling wine.  The blender didn't do much.  I poured in about another cup.  It started whirring around.  I tried different speeds, and I'm sure it's different for different blenders.  But the basics rule is that you need enough liquid to get things going. 

Once I got things going, I continued to pour in a little bit from time to time and stopped periodically to stir it around. At first it seemed a little heterogeneous in that there were the occasional chunk of frozen peach.  I liked it, but I felt like it needed a bit more whirring.  Sadly, I lost the chunks with my zealous blending, but the result was a lovely silky frozen drink as if made at a restaurant.

I poured it into a red wine glass and added a small shot of sparkling wine on top. Add straw.

I'm through glass #1.  I'm on to #2.  Tast-i-licious!