Kieran

Warm Lime Meringue Mousse

Lime Meringue Mousse The idea for this this tasty dessert came originally from the New Basics Cookbook, but I have modified the recipe (for starters, it uses lemons, and the method and ingredients are different here). Anyway, it’s a light and fluffy dessert that always goes down a storm…

Warm Lime Meringue Mousse

Ingredients:

Eggs and Limes60g Butter
150ml Fresh Lime Juice
Zest of Two Limes (finely zested)
200g Sugar
5 Eggs

What to Do:

1. Put the 100g of the sugar along with the butter, lime zest, and lime juice in a saucepan and cook over low heat until all the ingredients are melted together. Allow to cool slightly.

2. Separate the eggs.

3. Beat the egg yolks into the lime/sugar/butter mixture.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. (Do not let it boil, or you will have scrambled eggs with lime!). Remove from the heat.

5. Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the rest of the sugar and beat until they are stiff and glossy.

6. Fold half the egg whites into the lime custard, stirring gently until they are combined.

Lime Mousse7. Pour into 6 ramekins.

8. Carefully spoon the rest of the egg whites to the half-full ramekins, so that the egg white is on top of the custard as a top layer.

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes, until they are golden in colour.

10. Serve immediately!

This has gone to Helene at Tartelette as part of her HHDD mousse party…

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Part of Slea Head Drive Closed

Slea Head Drive Following the news of the collapse of part of Slea Head Drive, I headed out to Dunquin this afternoon to check it out. The road is still intact but closed to traffic since cracks have appeared after the landslide. They are already building a new stretch of road, which should be open in a few weeks if things to well, which is important to all the businesses in the area. In the mean time, diversions are in place…

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New Sign for Dingle

Votail Nil It’s been a crazy weekend in the shops, with a massive Easter rush, and I have hardly had a chance to catch my breath, let alone post anything. However, this sign has just appeared at the Milltown roundabout in Dingle, and I couldn’t resist snapping a photo. It certainly will get Dingle people talking.

For those without Irish, it’s a reference to the Dáil’s upcoming election and the difficulties facing the area and says: No Name, No Farmers, No Fishermen, No Small Businesses, No Post Offices, Vote No to Fianna Fáil. “Gan” actually means “without,” but hopefully you get the idea…

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Ice Cream Easter Eggs

Ice Cream Egg

Ice Cream Eggs

We’ve been playing around with making ice cream Easter eggs. I had bought an egg mould some time ago, and we poured the ice cream into it. Then we wrapped it in chocolate (we tried both dipping and pouring, and both come out well) and added some caramalised hazelnut nibs. I don’t know if the customers will get any. We’re busy eating away!

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New Coffee Suppliers

Ponaire Coffee There seems to be more and more new companies roasting their own beans for the ever-increasing Irish coffee market. We’ve just received a sample of beans from the latest – Ponaire (the name is “bean” in Irish), a family operation in Tipperary.

The quality is very high, with a mild, smooth taste, and I would be happy to recommend them to anyone in the Midwest region. We’ll stick with our existing beans, though, since we’re happy with them (and our suppliers) and since they are Fairtrade…

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Apologies for being off-line

I must apologise to everyone who tried to access this site over the last days. I’ve been so busy in the shop that I didn’t realise that I had run out of bandwidth due to the extra traffic generated by the Irish Blog Awards. I had paid for extra bandwidth earlier in the month, but it clearly wasn’t enough. By the time I checked the site and my email on Friday evening, the folks at Blacknight, who host this site had headed away for the weekend, and there was nothing I could do… So sorry!

It’s an odd thing when you have a huge spike in traffic that is a “once off,” and I’d be interested to know how other bloggers handle it. The salesman at Blacknight with whom I corresponded when I bought the extra bandwidth was unwilling to cut me any slack (even in return for me singing their praises on the blog) and was interested only in trying to sell a more expensive package, which would be generally three or four times the bandwidth I need in a normal month. I was down for almost three days. Ouch! Once again, apologies…

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Extreme Cocoa

Extreme Cocoa I’ve posted various hot chocolate recipes, and this is what we’ve settled on for a hot chocolate with a huge cocoa hit and a drink that’s not too sweet. This cocoa is thick and luscious, and it’s going down a storm in the shops. It’s for real chocoholics only…

Murphys Extreme Cocoa

Extreme Cocoa glass125 g cocoa (unsweetened)
800 ml milk
225 gm sugar
1 teasp. natural vanilla essence

1. Mix the cocoa and sugar.
2. Add the milk in small parts, stirring to create a paste, then diluting the paste until the milk and cocoa mix are combined. Add the vanilla essence.
3. Pour into a saucepan and place the over medium heat, stirring all the time until it reaches 60-65C.
4. Garnish with grated chocolate and/or whipped cream and enjoy!

Six servings.

Notes:

1. If you find it too strong, you can always dilute it with more milk, but then again if you do find it too strong, this is probably the wrong recipe for you!
2. The amount of sugar will vary depending on the chocolate. Obviously you can add more if you want it sweeter.
3. You can freeze any excess and thaw it later when you want to drink it…

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Cycling in the Maharees

Maharees With all this beautiful weather, we’ve been really busy in both shops. We are training two new staff members in Dingle and trying to keep up with the work.

Maharees With MountainsStill, I did manage to get out for a cycle, heading over the Conor Pass to Castlegregory and the Maharees. This spit of land, known as the windsurfing capital of Ireland, makes for a perfect cycle on a calm day, since it is relatively flat.

In the summer, it can be full of cars as the caravan parks fill to capacity and the surfers and windsurfers arrive in earnest. This time of year, the roads were quite empty and the scenery beautiful.

As with many places in Kerry, there has been a huge amount of development, with dozens of new houses since I was there last. Still, it’s worth a wander to hear the call of the sea birds and the sound of the waves. If you want a change of pace from the bike, there are miles of shoreline to explore.

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