Recipe: Roasted Stone Fruits with Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients
Yield: 4 servings

For the caramel ice cream:
go 1 1/2 cups sugar
go 1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
go 1/4 cup water
go 3 cups whole milk
go 8 large egg yolks
go 1 teaspoon vanilla
go 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the fruit:
go 1 1/2 lb apricots, plums, nectarines, or peaches or a mix of any or all of these
go 2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
go 1/2 vanilla bean
go About 2 tablespoons sugar
go About 2-3 tablespoons water

Preparation:
go To make the caramel ice cream, in a heavy, medium saucepan, stir together 1 1/4 cups sugar, the corn syrup, and the 1/4 cup water with a heatproof rubber spatula or a wooden spoon. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Swirl the pan occasionally (but do not stir!) while the mixture is boiling until it turns a deep, reddish brown, about 7 minutes. Be very careful that you do not overcook the caramel, in a split second it will be perfect, and the next it will be overdone (also do not undercook it as it will lack the deep rich flavor of dark caramel).
go Immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and add the cream. Be careful, the mixture will bubble up and might splatter. Stir in the milk, and place the mixture over medium heat to melt the caramel into the milk and smooth out the mixture.
go Meanwhile, separate the eggs, putting the yolks into a medium-size mixing bowl. Reserve the whites for another use. Break the eggs yolks up with a whisk and add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk the yolks and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved.
go When the caramel mixture is very warm, "temper" the egg yolks by slowly drizzling 1/2 cup of the hot caramel mixture into the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Add the egg yolk mixture back into the caramel mixture, again whisking constantly. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly with the heatproof rubber spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture coats the spatula or back of the spoon and leaves a clean line when you draw your finger through.
go Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean mixing bowl. Place the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice and cold water to cool the custard down quickly. When the custard is mostly cool, stir in the salt and vanilla extract. Cover the custard with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly, at least 4 hours and preferably overnight. Freeze the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Once you make the ice cream, it will need a few hours in the freezer to firm up before you prepare the roasted fruit.
go To make the roasted fruit, halve and pit the stone fruits. You can leave them in halves or cut them into quarters. Place the fruit on a roasting pan.
go Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Halve the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and the vanilla bean pod to the warm butter. Using a pastry brush, brush the melted vanilla butter over the stone fruits. Sprinkle the stone fruits with the sugar (to taste, depending upon the sweetness of the fruit) and then with the water. Roast the fruit for 20-30 minutes until just soft. While the fruit is roasting, baste it with the pan juices to glaze the fruit.
go Serve the fruit with a scoop of the caramel ice cream.