White peach & sherry ice cream

To make the vanilla custard base

Place the milk and the cream into a heavy-based saucepan along with the vanilla pod. Place over a gentle heat and bring to just under a simmer.
Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to infuse for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and the sugar (220g) together until light and pale. Pour over the warm milk, stirring continuously as you do so.

Return the custard to the pan that you heated the milk in and place it over the lowest possible heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir the custard in a figure of 8 motion, always dragging the spoon along the base of the pan as you do so. Keep stirring until the custard begins to thicken (be patient as this may take some time). You will know the custard is ready when it clings to the back of the spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and strain the custard mixture through a chinois (a fine mesh cone-shaped sieve), and set aside to cool completely.

To poach the peaches
Place the sugar, water and second vanilla pod into a wide heavy-based saucepan. Place the pan over a medium heat and bring to a simmer.

Slice the peaches in half, removing the stones as you do so. Lay the cut peach halves in the sugar syrup and poach until soft (this will take approximately 5 minutes). Remove from the heat and let the peaches cool completely in the syrup.

Once cool strain the peaches from the syrup and purée the fruit in a blender until smooth. Add the 2 tablespoons of sherry to the purée and stir well. Combine the custard and peach & sherry purée together, stirring well to combine. Pour into your ice-cream maker and churn according to the manufacturers instructions.