Ice Cream Ireland

For those of you who need an excuse to visit Dingle, there will be a film festival in town from the 6th - 9th of September. Opening the festival and serving as adjudicator will be Sir Alan Parker. There’s a lively lineup of shorts and feature films as well as workshops. Definitely worth checking out! Website here.

Technorati tags: Dingle, film, festival, cinema, movie, Kerry

 For this week’s column in the Irish Times (in today’s issue), I decided to write about our multicultural staff, especially in our Killarney shop (photo below of some of the team). As part of the piece, I included this recipe for Polish ice cream, given to me by our Killarney shop manager, Sylwia. The test batch was very tasty, if you like fruit and nuts!

Bakaliowe Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 3/8 cups cream
• 1 1/8 cups milk
• 1/4 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried fruits
• 1/2 cup almonds and other nuts

What to do:

1. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.
2. Bring the milk to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
3. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
4. Pour the mixture back into pan, add the vanilla bean and place over low heat.
5. Stir until the custard thickens (around 70C).
6. Immediately remove from the heat, and place in the refrigerator until cool.
7. Remove the vanilla bean.
8. Stir in the fruits and nuts.
9. Whip the cream and fold into the mix.
10. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

Technorati tags: Bakaliowe, ice cream, Polish, dessert, recipe, Irish Times

 My brother Sean and Cian, our temporary Dingle Shop Manager, decided in a moment of madness to bring ice cream into space.

Well, maybe not space, but about as high as you can get in Dingle.

At the moment, we have this crazy bungee contraption in town that basically hurls you a hundred meters into the air.

Credit to Sean, who is afraid of heights. Not only did he muster the courage to do it, but he sweet-talked the ride operator into letting him bring along ice cream.

There were a few mishaps, but perhaps it’s better to show it than explain it because there is video footage of the event, and I’ll post it just as soon as I can. It’s pretty funny…

I’m kind of jealous and might have to have a go myself this evening…

Here’s the video:

Technorati tags: bungee, Dingle, ride, space, ice cream

 Sorry I haven’t posted for the past few days, but this is our busiest time of the whole year.

The August Bank Holiday weekend is always madness, and my brother and I have been in the Dingle and Killarney shops from morning until night. It’s really the peak of the whole season, and from here, we slowly begin the return to quieter times and a more normal life.

However, it’s fun when the shops are so crowded. There’s a real buzz, and today the sun came out in earnest, and the Killarney shop was hopping. I snapped these photos in an attempt to show what we look like in high season!

Now I must go back and scoop some more ice cream!

Technorati tags: Killarney, Dingle, August Bank Holiday, shop, ice cream

 For my first article in the August series for the Irish Times (today’s paper), I decided to write about Nell Grandfield (picture below, from an old postcard), who was making ice cream in our Dingle shop from the 1940s to the 1970s.

I often think how we’re so proud of our gourmet foods in recent times, and are so snobbish about the old fashioned ways.

Yet, if you think about it, virtually all Irish farmers were organic 50+ years ago, before pesticides really came in, and there were many, many people making small batches of what we’d now consider artisan foods. Of course, they didn’t have access to the wide range of ingredients we do, and perhaps not the level of outside influence, but you can’t hold that against them.

Many of the top chefs are now extolling the virtues of buying organic and buying local from small producers. If you think about it, that’s what everyone was doing in the days before the big supermarkets. So either people in the food business back then were all ahead of their time, or we owe them a bit of credit, or both…

Nell’s Fruit Cup

Ingredients:

• 1 scoop vanilla ice cream (recipe here)
• 1 dash of raspberry cordial or coulis
• A couple tablespoons of fruit salad or fruit cocktail
• A wafer, cut diagonally

What to do:

1. Scoop the ice cream into a glass dish
2. Spoon over the fruit
3. Add the raspberry sauce
4. Top with the wafer
5. Enjoy it!

Technorati tags: fruit, cup, Nell Grandfield, dessert, recipe, Irish Times

With raspberries in season, a great topping for ice cream is raspberry coulis. It’s tart and delicious and dead simple to make! 

Murphys Raspberry Coulis

Ingredients:

• Small punnet (125 gm) raspberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

What to do:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food process and puree until smooth.
2. Pass through a fine sieve using a rubber spatula or the back of a wooden spoon until only the seeds are left.
3. Discard the seeds.
4. Enjoy!

Yield: 150 ml coulis

It will last around 3 days if refrigerated, but I suggest you eat it straight away!

Technorati tags: raspberry, lime, coulis, sauce, recipe

 It might be drizzling this morning, but for the last few days in Dingle, the sun has been blazing down and everybody’s spirits lifted. I bought a heap of fruit to go making fruit salad. I think there are few things I make at home that are quite as expensive, but there also are few things that taste as good on a summer’s day. Fruit salad can be eaten on its own, topped with cream, or poured over ice cream.

Here are some tips to making a great fruit salad:

1.  Use fruit you like!
2. Make sure the fruit is ripe.  
3. Try to buy local fruit that is in season when ever possible. Nothing beats it!
4. Choose fruit with a variety of colours to make the salad look its best.
5. Mix up the textures a bit - smooth fruits, crunchy fruits, etc.
6. Squeeze in the juice of a couple of lemons or limes. This will help keep the fruit from turning brown.
7. A tablespoon or two of cognac is a great addition!
8. Letting the fruit salad sit for a few hours will greatly enhance the flavour, especially if you have put in some cognac. (It’s a good idea to leave it in the refrigerator).
9. If you do add sugar, add less than you think you would need. The fruit salad will become a lot sweeter as it sits a while.
10. Serve it in a glass dish for dramatic effect.

Technorati tags: fruit, salad, fresh, dessert, recipe