The Monday Treat – Affogato

Coffee has been something of the Topic Of The Week, well, with my husband at any rate.

The Physics Department, deeming fancy coffee unnecessary on purely academic grounds, is rationing stocks for the summer. Supplies have now run out altogether. There is a fancy coffee drought. The machine is not stockable by normal pods or powders, but can only be fed with specially designed capsules straight from a wholesalers, which can’t deliver until September, by which time, normal coffee service will have resumed – but until then … the mysteries of the Universe will presumably remain mysterious. Physicists are up in arms. In a mild sort of way. Muttering has occurred. Drama. “How can I concentrate on indirect dark matter detection without espresso?”

It reminds me of a conversation overheard at London Fashion Week several years ago between a model and a runner; “What do you mean there’s no coke?” Several raised eyebrows. “Diet Coke is absolutely necessary for thin people!”

Honestly, since the Gagia coffee machine exploded on me one morning, showering our old kitchen in grinds and necessitating a hasty repaint of the cabinets, I’ve not be too fussed by espresso one way or the other. And since we moved to New York it’s not been much of an issue – we don’t have any kitchen counter space at all, hence nowhere to put a machine, and it’s far too heavy to ship from the UK . So it’s boxed up in Jon’s parents’ barn, and we either make strong coffee in one of those Italian silver jug contraptions perched perilously on the gas hob, or we buy it in cute little one shot cups.

Adding vanilla ice cream to the mix is just generally a good idea. Either as a no effort dessert or – possibly even better – as an extremely treat-y no fuss breakfast.

Affogato

Ingredients

• Scoop the ice cream into a glass or bowl and freeze to get it really cold. (5 minutes should do it, though you could leave it there covered for a couple of days)
• Make or buy some espresso
• Pour the espresso over the cold ice cream
• Sweeten to taste if necessary (Even if you like coffee sweet, you might find that the ice cream is enough)

You could fancy this up for dessert by garnishing with chocolate coated coffee beans.

I’m told that this is not authentic – told, in fact, by my Italian friend as she was doing it – but you could add a shot of coffee liquor or amaretto if the idea struck you as being a good one. (It is. Though possibly not for breakfast on a Monday morning …)