Miso and brown sugar ice-cream with dried peach compote

Ice-cream is incredibly easy to make at home, with the assistance of a domestic ice-cream machine. And these are relatively inexpensive to buy. The only trick, however, is to not over-cook the custard base or it will curdle. To prevent this, do not, whatever you do, stop stirring it with a wooden spoon while it is over the heat.

Credit: China Squirrel

• serves

  6

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 300 ml pouring cream
• 300 ml milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 200 g (1 cup, lightly packed) brown sugar
• 75 g (¼ cup) white miso

Dried apricot compote

• 300 g (3 cups) dried peaches
• 110 g (½ cup) caster sugar

Chilling time 2 hours

Freezing time 4 hours

Instructions

Combine the cream and milk in a saucepan and bring just to a simmer. Remove from the heat. Place egg yolks and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until pale and thick, about 8 minutes. Pour warm milk mixture onto the yolk mixture, stirring until well combined. Pour into a clean large saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring, for about 10 minutes or until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, add miso and stir until smooth. Cool the mixture to room temperature then transfer to a container and cover the surface directly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until well-chilled, then churn in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer instructions then transfer to a freezer. Freeze for 4 hours or until firm.

Meanwhile, for the compote, place the peaches in a bowl and pour over enough boiling water to just cover them. Stand for 1 hour or until the peaches have softened. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan, adding a little extra water to nearly cover the fruit if necessary. Bring to a simmer and then cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until peaches are tender. Add the sugar, bring to a simmer, then cook for a further 15 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and thickened a little. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Serve spooned over the miso ice-cream.

Photography, styling and food preparation by china squirrel.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.