Well, it’s hard to believe Thanksgiving and all the foodiness that goes with it is over for another year! Turns out I will be also hosting Christmas this year, so only a few weeks until another turkey. I will post about my turkey later, but allow me to say that I feel my turkey has always been great, but this year I brined her and WOW! What a difference. To think how many years I’ve wasted thinking it was unnecessary. Unbelievable and worth every bit of effort! But look for the turkey post next week. As it stands, the mother-in-law is still here, so this will be a quickie!
I used to love traditional Irish breakfast. Plump sausages, luscious slices of back bacon, black and white pudding, sauteed mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and of course baked beans – delicious – and a great hangover cure! But I have gotten completely sick of it since coming back to Ireland. I would love to be able to go out for breakfast and have an option or seven other than the full Irish or Scrambled Eggs and toast. So allow me to propose the alternative Irish breakfast! No recipe really, more composition!
To assemble:
- Creamy Scrambled Eggs (allow 2 per person)
- Toasted and Buttered Brown Soda Bread
- Organic Smoked Irish Salmon (Forget that Norwegian and Scottish stuff!
) - Chopped Fresh herbs to garnish
Arrange the bread on a plate and top with the eggs, a slice of salmon and garnish with herbs. Easy and delicious!
Now… onto dessert. I am two days late, but did try one of the Murphy Brother’s Ice-cream recipes. I finally managed to find oreos in this country so had to make the Cookies and Cream. This recipe is to die for. The ice cream itself is incredibly rich and creamy. I will use this base recipe over and over as both ice-cream and creme anglaise. Truly excellent. I think it must be folding in the whipped cream that does it. I would not change one thing and give it ten out of five stars! I just can’t wait for the book to try more of the recipes. I apologise in advance for the photo. It was late and there was none left to take a photo in natural light the next day!
MURPHYS COOKIES ICE CREAM
Ingredients:
- 130g Sugar
- 5 Egg Yolks
- 220ml Cream
- 200ml Milk
- 1/4 Vanilla Bean
- 4 Cookies
What to do:
- Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise and put in a saucepan with the milk.
- Bring the milk to a simmer.
- Remove from the heat.
- Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.
- Remove the vanilla bean from the milk.
- Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
- Pour the mixture back into pan, and place over low heat.
- Stir until the custard thickens (around 60C).
- Allow the custard to cool.
- Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (don’t over-whip!) and fold into the custard.
- Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, adding the cookies when it’s fairly solid.
- You can also just cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours, and again, add the cookies when it’s reasonably solid.
Notes:
1. The reason not to add the cookies to early, is that they can turn the ice cream an awful grey colour if they are mixed in too early!
2. The vanilla is optional, but we like a base flavour of vanilla for this ice cream…
Original Recipe is here!
