Ballymaloe Coffee ice Cream with irish Coffee sauce
This ice cream is so good, you may be surprised that I am using instant coffee, but believe me, it works brilliantly here – liquid espresso will result in little splinters of ice.
serves 6–8 For the coffee ice cream
2 free-range egg yolks 50g granulated sugar 110ml water
½tsp vanilla extract 3tsp instant coffee ½tsp boiling water 600ml whipped cream
For the Irish coffee sauce
175g granulated sugar 75ml water
225ml strong coffee or espresso
1tbsp Irish whiskey
1 Put the egg yolks into a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. Put the sugar and the water into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over a low heat. stir until all the sugar is dissolved and then remove the spoon and do not stir again until the syrup reaches the thread stage. it will look thick and syrupy; when a metal spoon is dipped in, the last drops of syrup will form thin threads. Pour the syrup in a steady stream onto the egg yolks, whisking all the time.
2 Continue to whisk until it fluffs up to a light mousse which will hold a figure of eight. stir in the vanilla extract.
3 mix the instant coffee with just ½tsp of boiling water. Add some mousse to the paste and then fold the two together. fold in the softly whipped cream. Pour into a stainless steel or plastic bowl, cover and freeze.
4 to make the irish coffee sauce, put the sugar and the water into a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat, stir until the sugar dissolves and the water comes to the boil. remove the spoon and do not stir again until the syrup turns a pale golden caramel. then add the coffee and return to the heat to dissolve. Leave to cool and add the whiskey.
5 to serve, scoop the ice cream into a serving bowl. Pour the sauce over the top.