Recipes

Matcha (Green Tea) Ice Cream

 Although I love green tea, I’m not sure that I’m really a fan of matcha. We had a request from a restaurant to make matcha ice cream, however, and we went to work. For green tea ice cream (or as a hot drink), I prefer using a green tea leaves, since the flavours are more complex and delicate, and I have a recipe for that here.

That being said, if you’ve had green tea ice cream in a Japanese restaurant and loved it, it’s almost certain it would be made with matcha. It’s a very different ice cream, more earthy with more kick, and I can understand why many people prefer it. Just so you know, matcha is usually quite strong, so I don’t add a huge amount. The strength could well vary, depending on the matcha you buy, so as always, use your tastebuds and if you want to add more, do so!

Here’s our version:

Murphys Matcha Ice Cream

Ingredients:

  • 130g sugar
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 240 ml cream
  • 220 ml milk
  • 5 g matcha

What to do:

  1. Put the milk in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
  2. Remove from the heat.
  3. Mix the matcha with the sugar until there are no lumps.
  4. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together.
  5. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
  6. Pour the mixture back into the pan, and place over low heat.
  7. Stir continuously until the custard thickens slightly (around 65-70C) and just coats the back of a spoon. Don’t over-heat, though, because at around 76C you will scramble the eggs!
  8. Immediately remove from the heat.
  9. Transfer the custard into a small container, cover, and refrigerate until cool (5C).
  10. Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (you should have soft peaks – don’t over-whip).
  11. Fold the cream (gently stir) into the custard.
  12. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine.
  13. You can also just cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours.
  14. If you’re using a domestic ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer-proof covered container when the ice cream has achieved a semi-solid consistency (around 15 minutes). Place it in the freezer, and continue to freeze until it is solid.

Notes:

  1. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and maintain that temperature for at least 5 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.
  2. For our regular green tea ice cream, I like to add crystalised ginger, so do so if you wish (add it when you’re freezing).
  3. In case you’re having trouble finding matcha in Ireland, we bought our’s from the Espresso Warehouse.  

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Murphys Buttermilk Waffles

 We’ve received our commercial waffle maker, and today we launched waffles in our Killarney shop. Customers seem well pleased!

I promised a recipe, so here it is – one from my mother – with the substitution of buttermilk for regular milk, which I find makes them even tastier. We serve them with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, but there are countless ways to enjoy waffles!

If you’re looking for a waffle maker in Ireland, Brown Thomas has a good Cuisinart one for 79 euros. Lidl had a special on waffle makers last week (20 euro, but the waffles come out pretty thin) and might have a few still kicking around. 

Sophia’s Buttermilk Waffles

Ingredients:

  • 225 g flour
  • 1.5 teasp baking powder
  • 3 eggs
  • 70 g butter, cut into small pieces
  • 350 ml buttermilk
  • 1/2 teasp salt
  • 2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 teasp cinnamon
  • 1/2 teasp vanilla

What to Do:

  1. Sift the dry ingredients, except for the sugar, together. 
  2. Separate the eggs.
  3. Add the sugar to the egg yolks and beat together. 
  4. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.
  5. In a small saucepan, over low heat, warm the butter and buttermilk, stirring all the time, until the butter melted. Do not overheat!
  6. Pour the buttermilk and butter into the dry ingredients, stirring until somewhat smooth. 
  7. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, and stir until incorporated. 
  8. Gently fold in egg whites
  9. Cook according to the instructions of your waffle maker.

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Candied Chilli Peppers

Sometimes I ask myself some odd questions, and one of them, when thinking about our recent Mexican ice cream flavours, was whether one could candy chilli peppers in the same way one candies orange peels. They are a fruit, after all. The answer to this is of course you can, and they are strangely addictive. We put them into ice cream as an inclusion for the food festival, but we also snacked on them over the course of the week.

If you want to make something different, and like spicy things, give them a go! (They also look quite dramatic as a decoration – especially if you combine red and green chillis).

Please note: you would be wise to use plastic gloves when chopping the chillis, or at the very least make sure you wash your hands carefully afterwards. If you absentmindedly rub your eye before doing so (as I have done), you will have a very unpleasant reaction.

Candied Chilli Peppers

Ingredients:

150g fresh, mild chilli peppers
150g sugar
300g water

What to do:

1. Cut the stems off the chillis, then cut them lengthwise. Scrape out seeds, and chop them into narrow, half-round strips.

2. Combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

3. Add the chopped chillis and cook over medium heat for about an hour, topping up with water as needed to keep from burning.

4. Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve, catching the chilli peppers. (The syrup is quite tasty too if you want to keep it – great over mango sorbet or fruit…)

5. Using a spoon or spatula, spread the chillis on a baking tray, and bake at 200C for about 5-10 minutes to dry them out. They should darken slightly but not turn brown.

6. Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy!

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Margarita Sorbet

 Here’s the second of the flavours we’re doing for our Mexican Fiesta at the rapidly approaching Dingle Food and Wine Festival. Margarita sorbet should be a real crowd pleaser, and we’re certainly quite enamoured of it.

There are as many stories about the origins of the Margarita as there are ways of making it. A classic Margarita would generally have tequila, triple sec (such as Cointreau) and lime juice. The ratio varies, but a typical one would be (in order of the above) 2:1:1. It’s a drink I love in all its variations, as long as I can lay my hands on good tequila (which is not always easy in these parts). Way back when I lived in Texas, my favourite Mexican restaurant, Fonda San Miguel served the most amazing frozen varieties.

For the ice cream, we’ve done it with and without the triple sec, and I think I prefer the latter. I’m not sure why that is, for I certainly like the hint of orange in the drink. We also like it with a little lemon, but you can substitute lime. I’ll leave it up to you!

Murphys Margarita Sorbet

Ingredients:

  • 340 gr sugar
  • 500 ml spring water
  • 100 ml good tequila (or a combination of tequila and triple sec)
  • 300 ml freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 60 ml lemon juice (or more lime juice)
  • Pinch of salt

What to do:

  1. Boil the water, then remove from the heat.
  2. Stir in the sugar, until it is completely dissolved.
  3. Cover immediately and cool completely.
  4. Stir in the tequila, lime, and lemon juice.
  5. Taste it to make sure you like it!
  6. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring at 1 hr intervals to break up the ice.

Note:

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.

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Black Bean Chilli and Chocolate Sorbet

 OK – here’s the first of our Mexican Fiesta ice cream flavours. I can see your eyebrows raising, and I know it’s an odd one, but everyone here thinks it turned out delicious! Black beans, after all, have a bit of a chocolate flavour, and the chilli spices really make the flavour complex and delicious. Since it’s a sorbet, it’s all about punchy flavour!

Murphys Black Bean Chilli and Chocolate Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 300 gm sugar
  • 300 gm chocolate (70%)
  • 100 gm black beans
  • 500 ml water
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh, chopped ginger
  • 1 small garlic clove, crushed
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • A pinch dried chillis (to taste)
  • A few sprigs fresh coriander

What to do:

  1. Put the beans and 1/2 litre water into a small cooking pot and bring to the boil. Cover and leave overnight.
  2. (The next day) Add the spices to the beans and continue to cook until the beans are soft.
  3. Keep adding water to maintain the original level. You will need 1/2 litre of the stock!
  4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
  5. Remove the beans from the heat. Drain the stock (liquid) and measure it. It should be 500ml. Top up with hot water if necessary.
  6. Mix the sugar into the hot stock, stirring until dissolved.
  7. Add the hot stock/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.
  8. Blend the beans until smooth.
  9. Stir the pureed beans into the stock/sugar/chocolate mix until completely incorporated.
  10. Cool the mix completely.
  11. 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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Lemon Curd Ice Cream

 This is a recipe that JP, our production manager, came up with. What makes this ice cream so good is that combination of zest and preserves. I love any kind of citrus zest in cooking – it’s brilliant and fresh and can lift almost anything. The preserves add a richness and fullness that can’t be found with just lemon juice and zest. If you didn’t know what you were tasting, you would recognise lemon straightaway, but there might be some difficulty in placing the earthy undertones that makes this ice cream so distinctive. It’s far more complex than any lemon ice cream I have ever come across, and has regular appearances in our scooping cabinet.

MURPHYS LEMON CURD (LÍOMÓID) ICE CREAM

Ingredients:

• 130 g sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 240 ml cream
• 200 ml milk
• 50 g lemon curd
• Zest (grated peel) of one lemon
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) lemon juice

What to do:

1. Beat in the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar until thick and pale yellow.
2. Bring the milk to a low simmer.
3. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan and place over low heat.
5. Stir continuously until the custard thickens slightly (around 65-70C) and just coats the back of a spoon. Don’t over-heat, though, because at around 76C you will scramble the eggs!
6. Immediately remove from the heat.
7. Add the lemon curd to the warm custard, stirring until it is dissolved.
8. Add the lemon zest.
9. Cover the custard with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool overnight.
10. Strain the lemon zest from the cool custard (unless you like it in there).
11. Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (you should have soft peaks – don’t over-whip).
12. Fold the cream (gently stir) into the custard.
13. Add the lemon juice.
14. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours to break up the ice crystals.
15. If you’re using a domestic ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer-proof covered container when the ice cream has achieved a semi-solid consistency (around 15 minutes). Place it in the freezer, and continue to freeze until it is solid.

Yield: 8 servings

Notes:

1. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and maintain that temperature for at least 5 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.

2. This is one of the recipes in our book.

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Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream

Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream Here’s another recipe from the book, and it’s one of my favourites. I tasted it first at an ice cream shop in Boston, and I didn’t expect to like it half as well as I did. Now, as I play around with the ice cream and learn more about chemistry, I know that the tannins in tea cut sweetness. Earl Grey tea generally has a mix of different black teas, including Darjeeling and China tea, but it is the bergamot that really make it distinctive. If you want an adult ice cream that will surprise your guests, this is one to try. It’s especially fantastic with a chocolate cake!

EARL GREY (TAE) ICE CREAM

Earl Grey TeaIngredients:

  • 130g + 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 240 ml cream
  • 250 ml milk
  • 6 Earl Grey tea bags or the loose leaf equivalent.

What to do:

  1. 1. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.
  2. Bring the milk to a simmer.
  3. Add the tea and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
  4. Bring back to a low simmer, stir, and remove the tea bags.
  5. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
  6. Pour the mixture back into the pan and place over low heat.
  7. Stir continuously until the custard thickens slightly (around 65-70C) and just coats the back of a spoon. Don’t over-heat, though, because at around 76C you will scramble the eggs!
  8. Immediately remove from the heat.
  9. Transfer the custard into a small container, cover, and refrigerate until cool (5C).
  10. Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (you should have soft peaks – don’t over-whip).
  11. Fold the cream (gently stir) into the custard.
  12. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours to break up the ice crystals.
  13. Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream CloseIf you’re using a domestic ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer-proof covered container when the ice cream has achieved a semi-solid consistency (around 15 minutes). Place it in the freezer, and continue to freeze until it is solid.

Yield: 8 servings

Note:

To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and maintain that temperature for at least 5 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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Mini Strawberry Meringues

Strawberry Meringues Irish strawberries are in season, and here’s a real crowd-pleaser for a garden party. I tried it out on some very willing friends this last weekend!

Mini Strawberry Meringues

Ingredients:

What to do:

  1. Make the meringue recipe, and using a piping bag (or a plastic bag – cut a 1/2″ hole in the corner) pipe the meringues into mini nests about 2 inches in diameter. Bake as per recipe.
  2. Whip the cream.
  3. Once the meringues are cooked, allow to cool, then add a small dollop of cream to each meringue.
  4. Hull the strawberries, and push them into the cream (cut the larger ones into halves or quarters).
  5. Serve, and watch them disappear!

Makes about 40

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