Lychee Peach Ice Cream

peach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus d
Yesterday I finally spent some time to decorate the apartment – the apartment I moved into about a year and a half ago. Where did this time go? We moved in the essentials – bed, some shelving, a dining table that is our pride and joy, all of my random kitchen necessities, two aeron chairs and a desk that holds our working desktop, and a clothing rack. We moved our stuff in and organized haphazardly, enough so that our working space and dining space were clean and functional. Boxes, remnants of a not-so-distant past, stacked up in our closet. I’ll get to it, I thought to myself. Walls remained white, unadorned except for a large, framed Breakfast at Tiffany’s poster I picked up from my previous rental in St Louis. We ordered prints from our wedding. I added more books to my already toppling library. I bought more props. We acquired more gear. Our guest book, consisting of hand written notes on individual instax photos, stayed hidden in a zip lock bag, good wishes and congratulations waiting to burst out to bless our home. Stacks of moleskins collected dust, reminding me of a past that pops up here and there. I flip through them and am instantly rammed with memories: sketching the bund and stopping midway because locals, with no sense of personal space, kept pressing close to me and staring over my shoulder, bestowing remarks that I understood and did not appreciate; going on my tiptoes to peek at the David, the legend we all know about; gulping down gelato on a hot day by the duomo, wondering why we didn’t have grapefruit flavored cold treats at home;, and more recently, annoying my girlfriends as I attempted to resurrect my sketching skills at the Temple of Athena Nike, and then actually infuriating them when I tried to do the same with the Parthenon – how could I not?! Yesterday I pinned them up on my blank, white wall, which brought up another batch of memories, with mixed feelings – pinning up my projects, stabbing my thumbs with sharp thumbtacks, paranoia over smudging, and of course, the never-ending critique that is the nature of architectural reviews.I’m hosting some college friends this weekend, because another friend is getting married in Boston: reunion, celebration, love. There is nothing like hosting to spur one to clean up furiously and actually step back to take a look at my space with a new perspective. It’s about time, really, and I’m glad I did it. I reorganized some of my props, swept and swifted the floors and set out fresh sheets and blankets for my guests. What are your plans for the weekend?
peach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus dpeach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus dI hope it includes making ice cream. So sorry, I know I’ve been teasing you all with this particular ice cream for several weeks -and now I’m finally getting around to posting the recipe! I’ve been making a lot of ice cream lately and I don’t regret it. Summer is in full swing and fruits are ripening and coming to the markets quicker than I can use them. Oftentimes I’m just snacking on them – no frills, no fanciness, and no effort. However, sometimes I can’t resist and I have to put two flavors together, like lychee and peach. Lychee is a fruit that comes from China – I’ve always had them in China, in the summer. My mom says it “上火”, which I can’t begin to translate… maybe, it gives you more heat? According to my mom, you shouldn’t eat too much of it otherwise you will get more acne or something like that. The solution, is this mung bean soup, which I actually love and make over and over again. Anyway, I don’t care – I love the taste of lychee. Juicy, floral, and sweet. I haven’t seen it used in desserts much (although Cynthia has an amazing lychee and nectarine cobbler!! I’ve NEVER had it baked, so intriguing!). I pureed lychee and peach, a match made in heaven, and folded it into a standard custard based ice cream. It’s so good. I left some chunks of lychee, but that is completely up to you.
peach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus dpeach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus dYou can pick up lychees at any asian grocery store, but I’ve also found it (in small amounts) at Whole Foods. They are probably imported from across the world, but they come in season early summer and are SO juicy and sweet. Just peel them like … an orange? and you can pit them like a cherry :). peach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus dpeach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus dpeach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus d
Notes:

  • I used less sugar because my peaches were very ripe. Juicy, soft, sweet, and ripe. I would recommend you use ripe, juicy peaches as well so you get that almost caramel flavor of ripe peaches in the ice cream.
  • I left lychee in chunks, which you can’t really see in the photos, but they’re there. In milk tea you can get lychee chunks instead of bobas, and I’ve always loved the texture and flavor it adds – I think it gives a similar feel in the ice cream.
  • If you don’t want to use lychee, just use all peaches. You’ll get a delicious ice cream regardless.

peach-lychee-ice-cream | le jus d

RECIPE: Lychee and Peach Ice Cream 

Ice Cream
2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup granulated sugar
5 egg yolks 

Lychee peach puree
1 cup lychee, peeled and pitted

2 ripe peaches, pitted and thinly sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar 

1| Prepare the night before: Stick freezer bowl in the back of the freezer the night before you plan to make ice cream.
2| Add lychees and peaches to blender and puree with some lemon juice and sugar. Set aside.
3| Heat milk and heavy cream until it begins to simmer – do not let it boil. Remove from heat.
4| In the meantime, whisk yolks and sugar until thick. gently stream milk mix into yolk/sugar mixture, whisking constantly after each addition. This is called tempering – the point is to prevent cooking of egg yolks. Have patience, and do this slowly.
5| Pour mixture back into a saucepan and heat until custard is thick. I like to use the spoon test – dip a wooden spoon into the mixture, and remove it. Run a finger in a line down the back of the wooden spoon. If the line remains visible, then the custard is thick enough. Stir in vanilla extract. Fold in lychee puree
6| Cover with plastic wrap and immediately chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.
7| Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to instructions.
8| Pour churned ice cream into an airtight container and freezer for another few hours.

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  • haha my mom says the same thing about lychees!! i actually get nosebleeds from lychees….
    jealous of the level of organization you have on your prop collection. mad props 😀ReplyCancel

  • LOVE the flavors you’ve got going on here. It looks so refreshing and summery.

    And yay for getting organized! All my props are still in boxes; I haven’t really unpacked fully yet. lolReplyCancel

  • Idk why I’ve never thought of how complimentary the flavors of peach and lychee are, but like, yeah that sounds like an amazing combo. Yum!ReplyCancel

    • Isn’t it just so complimentary? I remember I gave Meg some lychee for the first time the other day and when I mentioned peach, she was like, “Oh yes it’s so floral!” and my mind was blown. It’s so true but I would never have thought of using that word to describe lychee!ReplyCancel

  • Ok, you know I could rave about the whole lychee thing here for a while so I’ll skip over that and just say how lovely the photos are! Just beautiful.ReplyCancel

  • I just love reading your writing. We are so similar here – we still have a stack of boxes yet to be unpacked from when we moved to CO last October (eek!) and have yet to hang anything on our walls but a strand of lights! We just got our first kitchen table too when we moved in last fall, after being married for 3 years without one. I like to call people like us minimalists 😉 Scott likes to think its part lazy as well (haha!). I loved your little reorganizing photo on Insta. And hope you’re having the loveliest of weekends with your friends in town! xoReplyCancel

  • I’m obsessed with lychees! I rarely find them here, but for some reason, as a kid growing up in Switzerland, we had them ALL the time. not sure why- I don’t think they’re indigenous to the area! but they were so good. and any time I see them now, I snatch them up! love that you paired them with peaches, Betty, and your pictures are gorgeous. ReplyCancel

  • Hahahaha my mom says the same things about lychees but she claims they cause nosebleeds if you eat too many :DDD Unfortunately, there’s no hope of me eating too many because they’re so expensive here that we never buy them! :/
    I genuinely love the flavor combination in this ice cream!!! Lychees are one of my favorite fruits, along with peach! I’ll have to try this sometime later!!!
    Your photos are gorgeous too 😀ReplyCancel

    • Totally get what you mean. They’re pretty pricey here because they’re imported, but I can’t resist getting them during the summer… thanks for stopping by Anne!ReplyCancel

  • I love that this recipe contains a more reasonable amount of sugar!!! And lychee is really one of the cutest, most prettiest and yummiest fruits ever! i’m just not diligent enough to “chill” by peeling them. 😛 And seriously…you and I are tooooo similar!! The way you described yourself and your deco/moving in situation is essentially ME. :/ I’ve definitely gotten better with life stuff since kids tend to do that to you, lol. And this is a cool change up from your usual photography. Still, I’m just toooooooo suckered into dark photography and even though I want to take bright photos more often it’s like, my hands won’t let me. Does that make sense at all? Do you relate? 😉ReplyCancel

    • Aww Ellie <3 Your comments always put a smile on my face :). Thank you so much for stoping bye! And I totally get it - but for some reason all these summery treats really inspire me to create similarly bright images!!ReplyCancel

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