Some cookbooks serve up that extra step, requiring you to use your greasy fingers and flip to the back of the book for a component recipe to the dish in front of you. As I always say, taste is most important, so if greasing up a few pages makes the thing more delicious, I don’t mind.
With master recipes such as ice cream, or those which only slightly vary, you don’t usually have to pull out that extra pan or shuffle through the book. Fruit ice creams, however, invariably benefit from a little side action, or that step, which, as Albert Roux would say, “can only do it a lot of good”.
Mixing fruit into anything is a tad risky; unless it’s high season, you’re at nature’s mercy. Take a blueberry pancake, which I loathe for those soggy, tasteless pockets getting between me and my buttery syrup. If you must toss blueberries in your pancake, you have to sweeten them-take that extra step.
Even though we’re in peak peach/nectarine season, you can’t just fold them into the base and expect a bold, peachy ice cream. They too need a little sugar bath. In the case of ice cream, however, adding syrupy, mascerated fruit, throws off the formula, which, if you can deal with it, makes for a nice, slightly lighter, slightly icier dessert.
We took this recipe straight from www.bunkycooks.com (who took it from http://someonekitchen.blogspot.com/, who took it from Gourmet but who’s counting) I’m not usually a fan of direct recipe (and even text) theft, especially after the whole Jonah Lehrer thing, but in this case, the photos looked great, the recipe looked great, and the ice cream, most importantly, tasted great. Dunking the peaches in a bowl with sugar for 8 hours: an extra step, sure, but worth it.
Oh yeah. We used nectarines.
Peach Ice Cream
Yield: Makes approximately 2 quarts
2 pounds ripe peaches/nectarines
2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 3/4 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1. Cut an X in bottom of each peach, then blanch in boiling water 15 seconds. Transfer with a slotted spoon to an ice bath to stop cooking. Peel peaches and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Toss with lemon juice and 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar in a large bowl. Let macerate, covered and chilled, at least 8 hours.
2. Whisk together cornstarch, 1/4 tsp salt, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a heavy medium saucepan. Add cream and milk and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Add to yolks in a slow stream, whisking constantly, to temper and pour mixture back into saucepan.
3. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, just until custard coats back of spoon and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer, 1 to 2 minutes (mixture will be thick). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl and stir in extracts. Chill custard, its surface covered with parchment paper (to prevent a skin from forming), until cold, at least 4 hours.
4. Transfer 2 cups peaches with slotted spoon to a bowl.
5. Purée remaining peaches and liquid in a blender until smooth. Add purée to custard and freeze in ice cream maker (following your manufacturer’s directions), then transfer to a bowl and stir in reserved peaches.
6. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, about 2 hours. *Be sure to seal the top of the ice cream mixture tightly with a piece of plastic wrap pressed firmly against the ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming. Top with the lid’s airtight container until ready to use.
Gourmet
June 2008
