Sorbet

 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.

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

What 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.

5. 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!

Technorati tags: cocoa, chocolate, sorbet, ice cream, recipe

 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.

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

Ingredients:

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!

Technorati tags: dom perignon, champagne, sorbet, ice cream, recipe

As we face into summer, there is nothing quite like the fresh taste of a sorbet to cool the head and enliven the palate. Raspberry and lime is one of my favourites and it’s actually quite simple to prepare…

It’s great either as a dessert or a sorbet course. If it’s for a sorbet course, you might want to add another lime to make it more tart. The chocolate sauce recipe I gave here would be a great addition if it’s a dessert.

Murphys Raspberry Lime Sorbet

1 Cup (237 ml) Sugar
1 Cup (237 ml) Water
225 gm (8 oz) Fresh, Ripe Raspberries
4 limes

Yield: 6 Servings 

What to do: 

1. You will need the zest as well as the juice from the limes, so bring out your grater and work those peels (it’s much easier before you cut the limes!). If you have a zester, this step will be very easy…

2. Put the sugar and lime zest in a heat-proof or pan. 

3. Boil water in a tea boiler and measure out one cup.

4. Pour it over the sugar and zest, stir until the sugar has dissolved, and let it sit for about half an hour.

5. Strain out the lime zest and discard, and put the sugar syrup in a pan.

6. Add the raspberries and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat.

7. Stir it vigorously to break up the raspberries, then place into the refrigerator until cool.

8. When it’s fully cool, add the juice of the limes. If you don’t have a juicer, put a sieve over the bowl to catch the pips, and squeeze away.

9. Freeze using a domestic ice cream maker, or cover and place in the freezer.

10. If you use the latter method, wait until the sorbet is about halfway frozen, mix it vigorously, then return to the freezer.

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 red ice! The more times you do this, the better the consistency will be.

2. For more information, I wrote about working with fruit in ice cream here.

3. This sorbet is suitable for coeliacs, the lactose-intolerant, and is virtually fat-free. For more on special diets, click here.

Technorati tags: raspberry, lime, sorbet, ice cream, recipe