Breakfast at Heston's

Did anyone see Heston's Christmas special ? We've just had Sky installed and I was able to sky+ it as it was on at about 3am. (On a side note, words cannot express how much I am totally in love with sky+)

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For those who didn't see it, culinary magician Blumenthal went all over the globe, seeking gold, frankincense and myrhh, Lapp reindeers, fir trees and all manner of festive goodies. He brought it all back to the lab and produced an incredible dining experience for the lucky celebrities who got to go. It was jaw-dropping stuff. Living with Heston must be like living with Willy Wonka. Or Bjork. Can you imagine what conversations would be like ? "well, today I captured 15 live flamingoes and decided to see what crystallising and making them into a vacuum-aspirated foam would taste like". Being his tastebuds must be a rollercoaster.

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Inspired by this culinary adventure I found some of his recipes and decided to have a go at one of his more unorthodox dishes, the well known Smoked Bacon and Egg Ice Cream. He serves this concoction with brioche pain perdu, tomato and chilli jam, caramel au beurre salé and an Earl Grey Tea Jelly - Heston's idea of the Full English. I had some delicious streaky bacon which we buy from Chilley's Farm in Wartling and decided that the ice cream would show it off really well. I also added some really crispy streaky bacon to the presentation of the brioche, some sweet peppers to the jam, left out the caramel sauce and served this to my Dear Husband for our post-christmas feast.

The ice cream is so good it defies description. Salty, smoky and slithery, it froze to a silken scoop even in the kitchenaid ice cream attachment. After I made the mix, I left it to cool while I went to the shops. I tasted it before I went out, and the flavour was so strong that I could still taste it when I came back from the shops. In fact, I can still taste it now. The rest of the dish worked very well (it's a shame I forgot about the jellies and we had to eat them separately) but the ice cream was the work of a genius.

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I've always thought HB was probably highly overrated, merely copying Ferran, the trailblazer. I've got a different opinion now - if Heston's recipe tastes this great at home, his restaurant dishes must be incredible. Can't wait to get a reservation....

For the recipes, run on over to the Guardian