Vanilla bean ice cream, browned buttered peaches and a berry sauce

I bought a litre of cream before the big move. Should I say it was a big mistake on my part?

I should have known that there was no oven facilities at the temporary rented place, and my ice cream maker was packed away in some box that was moved to the new place. So, how in the world was I going to use cream that was due to expire within one week? I've come up with some ideas on how to use up cream. The first thought I had was ice cream. Hand churned of course since the ice cream maker was playing hide and seek.

 Vanilla bean ice cream, browned buttered peaches and a warm berry sauce

Since the discovery of the ice cream maker (which I seriously did not know beforehand that we had one), I've long stopped churning ice cream by hand. It's a serious time saver to get an ice cream maker if you enjoy making ice cream on a regular basis. So for this batch of vanilla bean ice cream, I made a batch of the trusty recipe from David Lebovitz, and after chilling the batter overnight, I stuck the container into the freezer, removing every hour or so to use my hand held mixer and whip the batter to prevent ice crystals from forming. I must say that it was a really lovely batch I made from scratch, it was so creamy.

And I should add that, you really don't need a lot of special equipment to make ice cream. As we had packed most of our kitchenware into boxes and shifted them to the new place, our rented place kitchenware selection was seriously sparse. I had no metal strainer, no whisk, no measuring spoons, nor ice cream maker. I made do. I used one of my hand held mixer's beater as a whisk, I eyeballed the measurement of vanilla essence to be added, I cooled the custard first using an icebath before straining it, and finally, I hand churned it. So. I hope that those out there without an ice cream maker, making homemade ice cream is really worth the effort, so I do hope you will try this method one day (soon!). 

 Peaches; Warm berry sauce

I had bought some un-sweet peaches from the store, so I decided to cook them slightly to pair with the ice cream. As I already had the thought to drizzle a berry sauce for the ice cream, I decided not to go with my original idea of poaching the peaches, but instead, to grill the peaches. Then I thought, should I experiment by brown butter grilling them? Heck, why not?

 Browned butter peaches; Blueberries and blackberries 

It's super easy to make a berry sauce. I didn't really thought of what to use for the berry sauce, but just threw whatever I thought would be good into the saucepan. And the sauce turned out really really scrumptious. I love berries to begin with, but turn them into a sauce and it's one word - heavenly.

Melty bowl of goodness

Vanilla bean ice cream
Recipe here.

Browned butter peaches
2 peaches, sliced thinly
salted butter

Melt and brown salted butter (I didn't measure but I think perhaps 1-2 tbsp?) in a flat pan. Add sliced peaches to coat. Remove from heat and place peach slices on place (drain away the excess butter). Pat the pan dry with a paper towel and place over heat again. When pan is hot, add the peach slices back into the pan to give it a chargrilled skin. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

Berry sauce

1.5 cups berries (I used a mix of blackberries and blueberries)

1.5 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp lemon zest

squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Place all ingredients into a saucepan and heat over med-high heat, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Take note not to smash the berries too much so that some will remain whole and intact. The berries will start to bubble and release their fruit juices. When all the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and transfer to bowl and cool slightly.

Scoop the vanilla ice cream into bowls, add the browned butter peaches, and spoon the (still warm) berry sauce over. Enjoy!