Peach Ice Cream

Peach ice cream from "La Grotta." Grant Cornett

Peach Ice Cream

This recipe makes rich, silky custard the color of your great-aunt’s bathroom suite, with the unparalleled flavor and breathy fragrance of fresh peaches. Best inhaled when it is freshly made, or at least within one week, as the flavor is soon lost.

• 4 large ripe peaches (about 1 1/2 pound)
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon, preferably unwaxed
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• Pinch of sea salt
• 4 egg yolks

To prepare the ice cream: Prepare the peaches by rinsing and then halving them, collecting any juice in a bowl. Remove the pits, quarter, and roughly chop the fruit into the bowl. Add the zest and the juice of the lemon and 1/4 cup of the sugar, stir gently, cover with plastic wrap, and leave to macerate in the fridge.

Bring the milk and cream, plus a pinch of sea salt, to a simmer in a non-reactive pan. Stir often, using a whisk or silicone spatula, to prevent it from catching. Once the liquid is hot and steaming, whisk the egg yolks and the rest of the sugar together in a separate bowl until combined.