Tag: coffee

Coffee Ice Cream

.Reading time 1 minute.

Makes: 5 cups

We had an Italian-themed dinner last weekend with some of Nat’s friends.

And how can it not end well with homemade coffee ice cream and a shot of Lemoncello?

Answer is, it can’t.

Like most ice creams, it starts with a great custard with the addition of coffee: instant coffee.

Trust me, instant is the way to go.

Into the ice cream machine, a few more glasses of red among friends, various promises that we should all go on holiday to Mexico and boom… you’re serving up cream, coffee ice cream.

Enjoy.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups caster sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp instant coffee granules
6 egg yolks
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

  1. In a medium saucepan over a medium heat, combine the milk, sugar, salt and coffee granules, stirring occasionally until steaming. Reduce the heat to low.
  2. Lightly beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Slowly pour half the hot milk into the eggs whilst whisking continuously. Return mixture to the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
  3. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve over a medium bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, allowing it to touch the surface of the custard to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate until cold.
  4. When ready, whisk the cream and vanilla into the custard until smooth. Churn in your ice cream maker.
  5. Enjoy. With a Lemoncello.

Nat’s (holiday) Espresso Martini

.Reading time 2 minutes.

 

IMG_7047
Eat your hearts out: this is not stock photography!
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The magic resting on ice in a mineral water bottle. Not sure where the mineral water went though not nonplussed.

Serves: 2

First off the bat, Nat wants me to remind anyone reading this recipe that she worked in a bar for five years. So that she can make a mean cocktail, refill a cigarette machine or call last drinks should surprise nobody.

So here we are in gorgeous Koh Samui, me just waking from an afternoon nap, when Nat appears with a coffee martini.

And what a coffee martini!

Literally, the best I have ever had. Not too sweet, not too bitter, just perfect.

I knew this was coming after we got some Kaluah after lunch, though the completeness and presentation was what made the whole thing so extraordinary. With an empty mineral water bottle, the Nespresso machine in our room and a bunch of Macgyver tricks, Nat delivered as good as any bar or club could.

Even better were the glasses she found under our television. I would have been happy drinking it from out of a shoe, though the glass was a real added bonus!

Enjoy! And thank you Nat. What a treat!

Ingredients

2 shots (50ml) vodka
1 shot (25ml)  Kaluah (basically 2 parts vodka to 1 part coffee liqueur)
1 shot espresso
Ice

Method

  1. Pour the vodka, coffee liqueur and espresso into a cocktail shaker.  Fill the martini glass with ice to chill and then fill the cocktail shaker (or mineral water bottle or shoe) with ice as well. Shake the shaker and shake it crazy.
  2. Empty most of the contents into the glasses and then strain the rest to get a rich froth.
  3. Garnish with three coffee beans.