Kieran

Looking Hopeful on the Dingle Name

Jackie Healy Rae with Ice Cream I can hardly say the ice cream we gave him when he visited on the campaign trail played any part in it, but the Examiner reported today that one of the demands from Jackie Healey Rae in lending his support to the Government was that Dingle be given back its name and that the official name would reflect the will of the townspeople and be “Dingle/Daingean Uí­ Chúis.”

Apparently the Taoiseach has agreed, and all going well, the fractious and divisive battle over the name should soon be a thing of the past. Let’s just hope it happens fast enough to change the signs back to stop confusing tourists over the busy summer season!

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Tig Aine

Tig Aine I had a rainy day off, and what better way to spend a few hours of it than a trip out to Tig Aine’s in Graig, Ballyferriter.

Aine is a woman of many talents, and besides running a cafe serving a range of foods including her famous warm scones and tea, she also finds time for painting and weaving. So there’s lots to peruse.

Aine's DucksIt’s a great afternoon stop for anyone taking a tour of the Slea Head and needing a bit of refreshment. The view is stunning, and the atmosphere is tranquil.

She has a brand new restaurant under construction, so there will be full evening meals soon.

Anyone who knows Aine can be fairly certain that the new addition will be a very special place to eat. You’ll have to ask her if the ducks will be on the menu…

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Strawberry and Sage Coulis

Strawberries Closeup I have written about Sweetbank Farm several times, the fruit farm in Wicklow. Well, we have just received our first fruit from them – trays of luscious strawberries.

It’s good timing, because I’ve had strawberry and sage on the brain for a while now.

I’ll get around to making ice cream from it, but I started by making a coulis, which can be used as a sauce for many different desserts. It’s an easy recipe, and I was eating it over vanilla ice cream within 15 minutes of starting out!

Chopped fresh sageStrawberry and Sage Coulis

Ingredients:

300g fresh, ripe strawberries
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
2 fresh sage leaves

What to do:

1. Rinse and hull the strawberries.

2. Put them in a food proccesor or blender and pulse two or three times. You don’t want a puree here! Just break them up a bit.

Strawberry Sage Coulis3. Chop the sage leaves in to fine pieces. (If you use dried sage, use about a half teaspoon).

4. Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. Don’t bring it to the boil. Cook it slowly simply to infuse the strawberries with the sage.

5. Serve hot or cold over ice cream or with another dessert.

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Dingle Peninsula Food and Wine Festival

Dingle Food and Wine Festival I’ve been involved with a group planning for a Dingle Food and Wine Festival for this coming October (12-14th). It’s a very exciting prospect, indeed!

Dingle Chefs with LobstersIt will consist of tasting menus in restaurants, cooking demonstrations, and food trails. There is still much to finalise, but we did get Valerie O’Sullivan, a Killarney-based photographer, for a photo shoot with about 20 Dingle chefs, so we could start putting some marketing materials together.

The festival website is here, but it is still under construction. Stay tuned!

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Affogato Al Caffe, Part 2

Affogato Al Caffe I wrote here already about one of my favourite treats – the Affogato al Caffe, but I thought I’d revisit it after trying it with the Kahlua Espresso ice cream. I thought it was sublime, so if you do make the ice cream (here), definitely try it! The warm espresso and cold ice cream, with a huge coffee kick, is pretty close to heaven.

To make an affogato, you simply take a scoop of ice cream (we like to serve it in a small coffee cup) and pour over some espresso (we use a single shot run long, in other words, an espresso lungo). In the shops, we serve the shot of espresso on the side and let the customer do the pouring.

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Una’s First Ice Cream

Baby Una's first ice cream It was a busy weekend in the shop, and one highlight was Copernicus stopping in for some coffee. Another big highlight was that my brother Sean’s baby Una had her first taste of ice cream. Una’s grandmother is visiting, and as we all know, grandmothers can be much easier to convince than mothers. Sean’s wife, Wiebke, has been very strict about keeping ice cream away from the baby, but when Una was in the care of her grandmother and reached for the ice cream, she got it.

Una with fingers in ice creamIt’s wonderful to see the expression on a baby’s face at the first taste of ice cream. It’s so different from what they have experienced, especially in terms of temperature, so there is always puzzlement, shock, and delight.

Of course, Una found it just as interesting to stick her fingers in the ice cream as she did eating it…

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Outside seating is here!

Killarney Shop seating I’m delighted to announce that we finally got approval for a couple of tables outside our Killarney shop. With this fine weather we’ve been having, the competition between customers for them already has been intense!

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Caife – Kahlua Espresso Ice Cream

Caife - Kahlua Espresso Ice Cream One of my favourite ice cream flavours that we make is our “Caife” – Kahlua Espresso with Chocolate Shavings. Coffee cuts sweetness and makes a great adult ice cream. In addition, the alcohol makes it even smoother, and the chocolate shavings provide a bit of chocolate that melts on the palate with the ice cream. I do hope you like this as much as I do!

Murphys Kahlua Espresso Ice Cream with Chocolate Shavings

Ingredients:

Kahlua1 Cup (237ml) + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
5 Egg Yolks
1 1/8 Cups (266ml) Cream
1 1/8 Cups (266ml) Milk
1/2 Cup (118ml) espresso
1/4 Cup (60ml) Kahlua
50g Good quality dark chocolate

Yield: 6 Servings

1. Add one tablespoon of the sugar to the espresso and reduce over medium heat until it is about 1/3 of its volume. Cool.

2. Beat the egg yolks into the rest of the sugar until thick and pale yellow.

3. Bring the milk to a simmer.

4. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.

5. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat. Stir until the custard thickens slightly (around 70C). Use a thermometer, as at 75C the eggs will scramble!

6. Allow the custard to cool to refrigerator temperature (5C).

7. Use a potato peeler to shave the chocolate, keeping the shavings as long and thin as possible. Stir into the mix.

Kahlua Espresso Coffee Ice Cream8. Stir in the espresso and Kahlua.

9. Whip the cream.

10. Gently fold in the custard.

11. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours to break up the ice crystals.

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