Just Peachy

In the last few years, my love of peaches, nectarines, plums, and other stone fruits has increased exponentially.  In terms of peaches, however, I never really paid attention to the different types.  I always bought yellow peaches because I had often heard people say white peaches tend to be watery and don't have as much flavor as yellow peaches.  Not true!  (Or shall I say, not always true.)  I saw some beautiful white peaches at the farmer's market recently and decided I had to try them.  It was love at first bite, slurp, savor.  These peaches were so juicy an so sweet.  Lots and lots of peachy flavor.  Why had I listened to people for so long and poo-poo-ed white peaches?  I think that as long as you get your white peaches locally and in the height of the season, you won't be disappointed.

This is such a summery ice cream (although I'm sure it would taste good in the dead of winter if peaches this good were available then).  The skin of my white peaches ended up giving the ice cream a gorgeous pink-purple color, and the vanilla been seeds added some cute polka-dot-pizzaz, not to mention tons of flavor and natural sweetness.  In a classic Fred-move, I added some cognac...(Is it sad that when I opened the bottle of cognac - to flambe chicken in coq au vin the other day - that I immediately thought: this smells like ice cream.  Is this backwards?  Perhaps.  I'm ok with it.)  Anyways, this is a recipe to hold onto!  I also recently discovered local white nectarines...dare I say maybe even more amazing than white peaches?  I definitely look forward to adapting this recipe to use white nectarines next summer!

White Peach Ice Cream
adapted from Daydreamer Desserts

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe white peaches
• half a vanilla bean
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2-3 tbsp cognac

Directions:

1. Peel the peaches, reserving the skins.  Remove the pits, reserving the pits.  Place the skins and pits in a medium saucepan and set aside.
2. Chop the peaches into medium-sized chunks and place them in a medium pot.  Add the granulated sugar and the lemon juice.
3. Cut the half vanilla bean lengthwise to get to the seeds.  Now, cut the half bean in two so you'll have two fourths (both split lengthwise).  Take one fourth and scrape out the seeds.  Add these seeds and this fourth of a bean to the pot with the peaches.
4. Bring the peaches to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes until the peaches are super tender.  Let cool to room temperature and then put in the fridge for a few hours to chill completely.
5. Stir together the milk and cream (I do this directly in the measuring cup to save dishes!).  Add the milk and cream to the saucepan with the skins and pits.  Remove the seeds from the other fourth of a vanilla bean and add these along with the bean to the pan.  Heat over medium heat until the mixture comes to a simmer.  Remove from the heat and cover.  Let the mixture steep for at least an hour...or do what I did: let the mixture come to room temperature then place in the fridge overnight.
6. When ready to continue, strain the skins and pits from the milk and cream.  Press on the skins and pits to extract extra flavor.  In the medium saucepan again, reheat the milk and cream over medium heat until little bubbles form around the edges of the pan.  Don't simmer or boil the milk!  Stir often as it's heating so you don't get a skin.
7. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, brown sugar, and salt in a medium bowl until they become thick and light yellow.
8. Slowly add the hot milk and cream mixture into the eggs to temper them.  Whisk constantly while you do this!  Be careful with this step - you don't want scrambled egg ice cream!  (Oh wait, potential new flavor?  Not sure how that one would go over...).
9. When all the hot liquid has been added to the eggs, return the whole mixture to the saucepan and cook over very low heat for several minutes until the custard is this enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Stir constantly with a rubber spatula, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan as you go!
10. When thick, pour the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.  The strainer will catch the vanilla bean and any undesirable cooked egg lumps.
11. Meanwhile, remove the cooked peaches from the fridge.  With an immersion blender or in a blender, puree the peaches to your desired smoothness.  I left mine perhaps half their original chunkiness.
12. Stir the peaches into the custard base.  Add the cognac and stir until well combined.
13. Place the mixture into the fridge for a few hours until very cold.
14. Freeze the ice cream in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.

It all starts with perfectly ripe local white peaches.

Peeling peaches is rather labor intensive, but do it outside on a nice sunny day, and you'll have a lovely time!

Looks like the peach is wearing a baseball cap!

Juicy juicy white peaches.

These peaches are already super sweet, but all ice creams need an extra sugar kick for smoothness.

Lemon and fruit: a match made in heaven.

Seeding your vanilla beans

Before cooking...

...after cooking.

In goes the creaminess.

Before cooking...

...after cooking. 

Strain all the pits and skins.  It's so purple!  Very unexpected.

Eggs and brown sugar get a good whisking.

Temper time.

Low and slow, stirring until slightly thickened.

Time to marry the cream and the pureed peaches.

Gorgeous pink with specks of vanilla bean seeds.

The start of the freeze.

The end of the freeze.  So creamy and dreamy!

Into a pre-chilled glass container...see you in a cone in a few hours.

A summery cone enjoyed on the deck for afternoon snack.  What could be better?

 Want some ice cream?  Come on over...the volume of peaches in this recipe made for a huge batch!  (And I even halved the original recipe!!)