Christine Cooks: peaches

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Fresh Peach Ice Cream with Ginger Liqueur and Crystallized Ginger

Peaches ripen later on the north coast than in hotter-in-summer parts of the US, which makes July the start of the season for our truly local ones. The peaches pictured below hail from Neukom Family Farm and may be found these days at local farmers markets; they're sweet, dribble-down-your-chin juicy, and they make a terrific ice cream.

Keeping an ice cream recipe simple is really not my style, and here, not being able to leave well-enough alone, I've added a French ginger liqueur and chopped crystallized ginger to mix things up a bit, making for a more, dare I say it, sophisticated dessert. The liqueur also helps to keep the frozen ice cream from turning into a brick, making for easier scooping. That said, please feel free to leave out both of those extra ingredients if you prefer; their absence will not affect the finished product.

Fresh Peach Ice Cream with Ginger Liqueur and Crystallized Ginger

Ingredients:
4 ripe yellow peaches, medium-large, pitted, skins left on
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons ginger liqueur (optional)
pinch salt
2/3 cup sugar, divided
4 egg yolks
1 cup 2% milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Preparation:
Chop the peaches into chunks and put into a food processor along with the lemon juice, ginger liqueur (if using), 1/3 cup of the sugar, and the salt. Purée until all the peaches have liquefied and no chunks remain. Set aside.
Whisk (or use a hand mixer) the egg yolks with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar until the yolks are pale and thickened.
Bring the milk to a simmer in a medium sauce pan over medium heat, until small bubbles form around the edge of the pot. Do not let the milk boil.
Whisk about one-third of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, then whisk it all back into the hot milk pan on the stove. Heat on medium, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon. Drawing your finger down the coated spoon should leave a track in the custard. Keep the heat on the conservative side of medium and take good care to not let the custard curdle.
Remove the pan from the heat and pour the custard (through a strainer, or not) into a glass bowl or 8-cup glass measure.
Allow the custard to cool for about 15 minutes then stir in the heavy cream.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold; overnight is best for thorough chilling.
Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions, adding the chopped ginger when the ice cream is semi-frozen.
Pack into container that has a tight-fitting lid and place in the freezer for an hour before serving.

Enjoy!

Cook's Notes:

My preference is to make fruit ice creams with their skins on. I feel that the skins add to the texture and color of the finished product. Please put your custard through a fine mesh strainer if you don't wish the tiny bits of skin to be present in your ice cream.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Peach-Quince Ice Cream

The best of summer and fall

In mid-October, Jacques Neukom's stall at the Arcata Farmers Market was selling organic late summer peaches, appropriately named Sweet September. Not as juicy as summer peaches, but a sweet, delicious free-stone fruit nonetheless and a wonderful surprise just when you thought peach season was over. At about the same time, wonder of wonders, my fickle quince bush produced a massive amount (for it) of quinces that fairly begged to be included in this ice cream. Some of them, anyway. The rest are languishing in the fridge waiting for me to become inspired to make a tarte Tatin, or something stewish. . .

Christine's Peach-Quince Ice Cream
Ingredients:1/2 cup (heaping) quince cubes, peeled, cored and cubed in 1/2-inch dice
2 tablespoons fine sugar
2 tablespoons water
4 large Sweet September peaches, pitted and sliced into eighths
3 medium eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
1 cup cream or half n half

Preparation:
To prepare the quince, heat the diced fruit with 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until a low boil is reached. Cook over low heat until the quince becomes fall-apart soft and the liquid has reduced, about 6 minutes. Watch the pan carefully so the ingredients don't scorch or it will begin to jel right in front of your eyes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

To continue with the ice cream, buzz the sliced peaches with the quince in a food processor until smoothly puréed. Set aside.

Beat the eggs with the 1/3 cup sugar until pale yellow and thickened.

Heat the milk to a simmer, slowly pour 1/3 of it into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, then return to the remaining milk in the pan and heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon and has thickened slightly. Watch carefully that the custard doesn't curdle.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir the fruit purée into the custard, blending completely.

Pour into a glass container and chill until very cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.*

Stir the custard before freezing in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Serve soft from the ice cream maker or freeze, tightly covered, for several hours to firm.

Cook's Notes:

> Whole, 2%, 1%, or skim milk may be used to make this ice cream, as can cream or half & half. Whatever you use will determine the creaminess, or not, of the finished product. The less fat you use, the more ice crystals in the ice cream.

> * Some folks might want to strain the custard before pouring it into the glass container for chilling. I don't usually do this because I like the texture of tiny peach skin and quince pieces in the ice cream. By all means, go ahead and strain if it suits you.