Contest-Winning Peach Ice Cream

Brianna's week. The afterglow of the Fourth is gone and the apartment is just an apartment again Γçö quiet, warm, smelling faintly of the hickory that's permanently embedded in the curtains near the back door. I don't mind. The smoke smell is proof of something. Evidence that a man lives here who feeds people. I'll take it over air freshener.

Worked every day this week. Plant was brutal Γçö heat index hit a hundred and three on Wednesday and the floor fans do exactly nothing when you're standing next to machinery that runs at four hundred degrees. Jerome and I ate lunch outside on the loading dock, which was somehow cooler than inside, and he brought up the Livernois space again. I said Jerome, I have told you seventeen times. He said eighteen is the charm. Then he said the landlord dropped the rent because the previous tenant left mid-lease. I said how much. He told me. I said that's still a lot. He said not for two people splitting it. I told him to stop talking and let me eat my sandwich. He stopped talking. I did not stop thinking about the number. I thought about it on the drive home. I thought about it in the shower. I thought about it while I stood in front of the fridge at ten PM eating cold pasta salad with a fork. A number isn't a plan. But it's the thing that comes before a plan, and that makes me nervous.

Thursday I tried something new. Bought catfish fillets Γçö a pound and a half from the fish counter at Kroger, which is not where my mother would buy fish but my mother drives to Eastern Market for catfish and I am not that committed on a Thursday. Seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, a little cayenne. Dredged in cornmeal Γçö yellow, not white, this matters and I will not explain why because Mama's rules don't require explanation. Fried in vegetable oil, three minutes per side, until the crust was gold and the inside flaked clean. Served it over white rice with hot sauce. Ate it standing at the counter because when you live alone on your off weeks, the counter is the table and the table is for bills.

Called Mama after. Told her about the catfish. She asked if I used yellow cornmeal. I said yes ma'am. She said did you let the oil get hot enough before the first piece. I said yes ma'am. She said good, because if you put fish in cold oil I'll know, and she would. Somehow she always would.

After I hung up with Mama and the catfish was gone and the kitchen was quiet again, I kept standing there at the counter thinking about what she would have put on the table after a plate like that — and it would have involved peaches. Peaches are how the South closes a meal, the same way a good story ends before the lights go out. I didn’t have anything sweet that Thursday night, but this recipe is what I’ve been coming back to now that summer fruit is finally showing up at the Kroger fish-counter end of the store, and it’s the kind of thing I want in the back of my head when Jerome eventually wears me down about Livernois.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 40 min (plus churning & freezing) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 cups fresh peaches, peeled and finely diced (about 4 medium peaches)
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 large egg yolks
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but recommended)

Instructions

Macerate the peaches. Combine diced peaches with 1/4 cup of the sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl. Stir, cover, and let sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes until the peaches release their juices. Set aside.
Make the custard base. Whisk egg yolks with the remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl until the mixture is pale and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
Heat the cream mixture. Combine heavy cream, whole milk, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Warm until the mixture just begins to steam and small bubbles appear at the edges — do not boil. Remove from heat.
Temper the eggs. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Then pour the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan, whisking to combine.
Cook the custard. Return saucepan to medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 8 to 10 minutes. Do not let it boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and almond extract.
Chill the base. Pour custard through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl set over an ice bath. Stir until cooled, then cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
Churn. Pour the chilled custard into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer directions, usually 20 to 25 minutes, until thickened to a soft-serve consistency.
Fold in the peaches. During the last 5 minutes of churning, add the macerated peaches along with all their juices. Continue churning until just incorporated.
Freeze to firm. Transfer ice cream to a freezer-safe container, press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface, and freeze for at least 2 hours until firm. Remove from freezer 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Contest-Winning Peach Ice Cream — Something Sweet After a Week Like That