LOW FAT ROASTED PEACH & PLUM EGGLESS ICE-CREAM...Time to Social-ice!

"My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate - that's my philosophy"
Thornton Wilder

To add to the ice cream celebration, a special blogging friend, who writes a beautiful blog by the name of Tangled Noodle, is calling for entries throughout July for an exciting ice-cream event! She's joined hands with 2 great bloggers, Scott @ ScottySnacks, and Jennifer @ Savorthethyme to get us all together to social-ice! In her words ... It's official: eating ice cream for the entire month of July is nothing less than our civic duty... I used a recipe I had posted earlier, Strawberry Fro Yo, as the basis for this. Actually, I had a Peach Fro Yo in mind when I went to buy the peaches, but the plums begged me to buy them too. Peaches in ice-cream were stuck in my head from posts at SGCC & Chez Us that I read sometime back. I also wanted to experiment roasting some peaches before the season disappeared altogether. Think I managed to roast them in the nick of time, because it's now time to bid adieu to peaches here. The poor plums had to share the fate! Roasting the peaches & plums filled the house with summery sweet aromas, & I got caught in my own ice-cream factory of sorts. Worked where my mind led me, adding sugar, pure vanilla extract (it has a vodka base, so helps keep frozen stuff a little soft) & almond essence to come up with this beautifully flavoured ice-cream. I'm still a long way from adding yolks to my ice creams; it's just not happening!The fro-yo eventually became a low fat ice-cream because I added a little cream in the end ... just felt the need for some luxury & creaminess. But by all means, you can skip that last bit & make it a 'Fro Yo'. This has a great balance of flavours, sweet with tang from the peaches & yogurt ... an absolutely yummy combination! I served the ice-cream topped with homemade roasted candied almonds & candied ginger slivers as the kids have discovered a new love for candied ginger. My batch of candied ginger that I made off a David Levobitz recipe ages ago is just about finishing off. I also served some ice cream with these delicious Fresh Peach & Ginger Peasant Cakes I made a few days ago. They are a twist on clafoutis, an eggless version, but mighty intriguing. It was with these enchanting cakes that the kids discovered their love for ginger! I'm going to post these peasant cakes next ... and you are going to love them!!

Now, for the low fat & eggless 'Roasted Peach & Plum Ice -Cream'! Method:

Tie yogurt in a cheesecloth and let it sit in a strainer in a bowl overnight or for at least 2 hours to get 1 cup of thick hung curd (or curd cheese). This will help drain off all the whey and result in a very creamy ice cream. (Overnight is a better option).

Halve & pit the peaches & plums. Place in lined baking pan, sprinkle over with the brown sugar. Roast in pre-heated oven at 200C for 30 minutes, or until soft & beginning to get caramelised a bit.

Once cool, slip off the peels. Then blend to puree with the vanilla sugar using an immersion blender. Strain if some peels got left behind. you should get approximately 1 3/4 cups of fruit puree. A little deviation hardly matters.

Beat the hung curd till smooth. Add the puree & beat in to mix well. Next add the cream (if using) & almond essence & vanilla extract & blend well.(Check & adjust the sweetness if you like).

Freeze the mixture in a wide dish or plastic container. (The larger the surface area, quicker the freezing ? since we have to pulse this mixture a couple of times), OR freeze it according to the instructions on your ice-cream machine.

If you don't have an ice-cream machine, like I don't, keep checking on the mixture every 30 minutes or so and use the stick blender to break the icicles, 4, maybe 5 times. (I use a sturdy whisk).