Recipes

Frozen Strawberry Banana Daiquiri

Daiquiri My brother-in-law Paul brought me a bottle of rum back from Nicaragua, where he was touring with an orchestra, playing his horn. So I made some of it into a frozen strawberry banana daiquiri.

It’s one of the big secrets of having a domestic ice cream freezer – you can make great frozen drinks that are sure to be a smash hit at parties (although there wont be enough for more than a few guests). The only caveat is that there needs to enough non-alcohol content to make it semi-solid.

If you want to try one, here’s a recipe…

RumKieran’s Frozen Strawberry Banana Daiquiri

Ingredients:

200 ml water

100 gm sugar

2 bananas

300 gm fresh strawberries

Juice of 1 lemon

300 ml rum

What to do:

1. Combine all of the ingredients except the rum and puree using a blender or food processor.

Daiquiri2. Transfer to a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.

3. Cool completely.

4. Stir in rum.

5. Transfer to a domestic ice cream freezer and run it until the daiquiri thickens. It will take much longer than a normal ice cream mix, and it wont freeze as solid.

Sláinte mheah!

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Irish Cream Liqueur Ice Cream

Irish Cream Liqueur Ice Cream A great Irish ice cream flavour is Irish Cream Liqueur (we use Baileys), and we call it “Bó Bhán” (white cow) in Irish. It’s an easy ice cream flavour to make, and the alcohol in the recipe improves the consistency. This ice cream partners chocolate cake or fruit tarts perfectly. It is also excellent served in hot coffee at the end of a meal.

Murphys Irish Cream Liqueur Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar 

5 Egg Yolks 

1 3/8 Cups Cream

1 1/8 Cups Milk 

2 Tablespoons Irish Cream Liqueur (we suggest Baileys, and you can add a bit more if you want, but if you add too much, the ice cream will be very soft and melt quickly...)

What to do:

  1. Shot of BaileysBeat 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 and place over low heat. 
  5. Stir until the custard thickens (around 60C).
  6. Allow the custard to cool.
  7. Mix in the cream and the liqueur, beating for one minute.
  8. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

6 Servings

Notes: 1. Make sure you add the liqueur when the mixture is cool, or the alcohol will evaporate.

2. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and keep at that temperature for three minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though, and keep stirring! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

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Chilled Strawberry Soup

Strawberries  I am a happy (although busy) man in the Summer. A few days ago, I saw some fresh strawberries at a fruit and veg shop in Killarney, and there were two remarkable things about them – 1. They had an odour, and 2. There was real earth attached to some of them (i.e it was not hydroponically grown). Yes, Irish fruit is back in season, and it’s something to savour!

Then I had to go to Dublin, and I stopped off at Sweetbank Farm in Wicklow. I’ve written about them before, and I highly suggest that anyone in the area go visit. Their fruit is sublime, and they serve it out of a delightful farm shop with fresh cream and a coffee if you want it.

In any case, I bought back trays of fruit for making ice cream, and I took a punnet of strawberries for myself. I had strawberry soup on the brain, and I decided to whip some up.

Fruit soups are rare in these parts, but you’d find them on the continent. It’s a great thing to serve before the main course of a nice meal (instead of a sorbet) – it cleans the palate and is guaranteed to wow the guests!

Chilled Strawberry Soup

Ingredients:

500gm Fresh Strawberries 

300 ml water, boiling

2 Tablespoon sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons balsamic vineger

Pinch of black pepper.

What to Do:

1. Put the sugar in a blender or food processor, add the boiling water and blend briefly to dissolve.

Strawberry Soup2. Add the strawberries and puree until smooth.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients, blending briefly to incorporate them.

4. Chill the soup thoroughly.

5. Garnish with yoghurt and a bit of mint and serve!

Serves 4

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Chocolate Sorbet With Organic Ingredients

Chocolate Sorbet Close We recently brought in some organic sugar, and we’ve been working with a few varieties of sorbet with all organic ingredients. Several of them turned out very nicely, but the best was the chocolate sorbet. If you’re a chocoholic, the following recipe will give you a chocolate kick that you won’t get with ice cream…

(A little disclaimer – we are not certified organic and don’t claim to be. That’s because although we are committed to organics and buy organic when possible, our priorities are as follows: 1 = taste, 2 = fresh, 3 = local, 4 = organic. In other words, we’d rather use delicious, fresh milk from a local farm than organic milk powder brought in from another country. We can then also push for our local partners to move organic.

Chocolate Sorbet Plate

We hope that in the future, all four of our priorities will intersect for all of our ingredients!)

Murphys Chocolate Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients:

300 gm Organic Sugar

500 ml Boiling Water

80 gm Green and Black Organic Cocoa

300 gm Green and Black Maya Gold Organic Chocolate

Chocolate MeltingWhat to do:

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.

2. Sift cocoa and sugar together in a heat-proof bowl.

3. Stir in water in small parts until the sugar and cocoa are completely dissolved.

4. Add the water/cocoa/sugar mix to the melted chocolate in small parts, stirring until you have a smooth emulsion. The chocolate will clump at first, but just keep adding the liquid and stirring until it is smooth and glossy.

Chocolate Sorbet on Spoon5. Cool the mix completely.

6. Freeze using a domestic ice cream maker or cover and place in the freezer, stirring every two hours to break up the ice crystals.

Enjoy!

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Creme Caramel (Flan)

Creme Caramel Creme Caramel (or “Flan,” as it’s known in Spain) is really one of my favourite desserts, and it’s much easier to make than many people might think. The only difficulty for some would be making the caramel, which is easy to burn. However, I’m amazed it’s not prepared more often, for guests are always “wowed” by this treat!

The most usual flavouring would be a little vanilla, but I like the kick of fresh ginger, so that’s the recipe I will pass on here.

Ginger Créme Caramel (Flan) Recipe

Before you get started, gather up the following:

6 ramekins, a small heavy saucepan, a sieve, a heatproof bowl, and a baking dish large enough to hold the 6 ramekins.

Part 1 – The Caramel

Ingredients:

150 ml sugar

1-2 tablespoon water

What to do:

  1. Pour the sugar in the saucepan, followed by the water.
  2. Cook over medium heat without stirring.
  3. Watch carefully. When it begins to brown, stir until the caramel is a deep amber colour, but not burned.
  4. It happens pretty fast, so take care. It is also very, very hot!
  5. RamekinsImmediately pour into ramekins, dividing it among the 6 before it hardens.

Part 2 – The Custard

Ingredients:

500 ml milk 

1 tsp. fresh sliced ginger

1 vanilla bean or 1 ½ tsp vanilla sugar

2 eggs

4 egg yolks

100 ml sugar

What to do:

  1. Preheat oven to 170C.
  2. Pour the milk into the saucpan with the fresh ginger and cook over medium heat. When it is hot, reduce the heat and leave it simmer for about 5 minutes.
  3. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl.
  4. Pass the milk through a sieve to remove the ginger pieces.  
  5. Slowly pour the milk over the egg mixture, stirring all the time, but try not to agitate too much or it will be very foamy.
  6. Once the eggs and milk are fully incorporated, again pass it through the sieve to remove any hardened bits of egg.  
  7. Pour into ramekins.
  8. Place the ramekins in a baking dish, and fill the baking dish with enough hot water to reach 1 cm below the rims of the ramekins. (You are creating a hot water bath for the custard).
  9. Bake for about 30 minutes, until firm to the touch.
  10. Remove from the oven, and immediately go to the next step. (If you wait, the caramel will harden).
  11. Cut around the edgle of the custard with a knife to loosen it.
  12. Invert the ramekins on plates to deposit the custard, pouring out any excess caramel.
  13. Creme CaramelServe immediately.

Notes: 1. You can substitute 1 tsp vanilla for the ginger, if you don’t care for it…

2. You can pull the remaining caramel at the bottom of the ramekins into decorative sugar threads as I have done in the photo on the right.

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Champagne Sorbet

Dom Perignon Sorbet My brother and I have had discussions about how far one can go with ice cream. Given that we are already at the top-end of the market, it makes some sense to push the limits of ingredients to make ice cream beyond what most people could imagine.

Dom Perignon Label

Champagne sorbet is good. We have done it. So why not, we thought, make a sorbet with Dom Perignon? In our local supermarket, a pair of 1998 vintage bottles have been staring at me for a while. Why not, indeed?

Then a journalist from the Sunday Times rang wanting to do an article about business and blogging. As part of the interview, she asked me what I’d be blogging about and I mentioned using upscale ingredients such as milk from the Kerry cow, the Valrhona single estate chocolate and a champagne sorbet using the Dom Perignon. The article about blogging is a few weeks off, but the upscale flavours caught her attention, and they decided to give us a blurb on that front. The article and the sorbet both came out on Sunday.

Given the price of the champagne, we’re charging 10 euro a scoop for it in our shops, and there are definitely people going for it. I guess it’s one of those things that you will never forget!

If you want to try to make it, here’s a recipe:

Murphys Champagne Sorbet

Dom Perignon Sorbet 2Ingredients:

330 gr Sugar
500 ml Spring Water
250 ml (Dom Perignon) Champagne
75-100 ml Lemon Juice

Yield: 6 Servings

What to do:

1. Boil the water and stir in the sugar, until it is completely dissolved.

2. Cool completely.

3. Stir in the champagne and lemon. (The lemon is just to offset the sweetness. Taste it as you add it, and make sure it doesn’t overpower the champagne).

4. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring at 1 hr intervals to break up the ice.

5. Garnish with strawberries and serve!

Notes:

1. It’s hard to make sorbet without an ice cream machine. You will need to interrupt the freezing process and stir, or you will be left with a block of ice! The more times you do this, the better the consistency will be.

2. If you’re making a special meal, you can have your glasses of champagne at the start, and simply leave enough for the sorbet. If your sugar/water mix is already cold, the timing should work perfectly to add the champagne to the mix just before your main course, put it in the domestic ice cream machine, and it will be ready for dessert!

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Single Estate Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate scoop

I have formed a dangerous addiction to the single estate Valrhona bars, and I really do think that it doesn’t get any better in terms of pure eating chocolate. Since that’s the case, and since we’ve been talking about doing super-super-premium ice cream flavours for our shops, we decided to make single estate chocolate ice cream. (There’s a bit on us on the cover of today’s Sunday Times business section this subject).

Valrhona Grand CruGiven the expense of the chocolate, we have to charge a euro extra per scoop. I tried two out of the three single estates – Ampamakia, my favourite for eating, and Palmira. The latter is definitely better in the ice cream, but both are good.

As with many of the finer things, it’s the subtlety and complexity of flavour that makes it special. If you can find the bars and want to go wild and treat yourself, here’s a recipe!

Murphys Single Estate Chocolate Ice Cream

1 Cup (237 ml) Sugar
5 Egg Yolks
1 1/8 Cup (266 ml) Milk
1 1/8 Cup (266 ml) Cream
7 oz (200 gm) Valrhona Single Estate Chocolate
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Yield: 6 Servings 

What to do: 

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water or a microwave. Take care – chocolate burns easily!

2. Beat sugar and egg yolks together until pale yellow.

3. Bring the milk to a simmer.

4. Remove from the heat and beat the milk into the egg and sugar mixture in a slow stream. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat.  Stir until the custard thickens (around 60C). 

5. Add to the melted chocolate in small parts and mix thoroughly until smooth and velvety.

6. Allow the chocolate custard to cool.

7. Stir in the vanilla.

8. Whip the cream and fold into the mix.

8. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

6 Servings.

Notes:

1. The boiler or container in which you melt the chocolate must be completely dry or the chocolate can clump.

2. The chocolate and the custard should both be hot when you mix them.

3. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and keep at that temperature for three minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

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Mint and Mojitos

mint I have never been much of a gardener (to say the least) but luckily my sister-in-law has quite the touch with plants. When I visited yesterday, she handed me a beautiful bunch of mint, and I went home to decide what to do with it.

I thought first to go making granita, which I might attempt today, but after the glow of the Munster match and the warmth of the sun in the afternoon, I decided to make a mojito.

It’s surely one of my favourite cocktails, and if you can’t get to Cuba and have fresh mint handy, it will give a lift to any day. By the way, I was quite pleased to see it on the drinks menu in Mackerel on my last trip to Dublin. Sadly, I had to drive home, so I had to pass on a lunchtime indulgence!

mojitoMojito

2 oz Rum (preferably Havana Club 7 year)

A bunch of mint

Juicy slice of lime

1-2 Tablspoon sugar

2 oz club soda or still water

Several ice cubes

Combine all the ingredients except the lime in a tall glass and stir vigourously to release the flavour of the mint. Squeeze in some lime juice, then drop in the lime slice. Stir again. There are those who would strain it, but I think it’s much more dramatic with the mint still in place, and although it might tickle the nose, the scent is divine! 

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