I live with four people who love gooey, chocolate-y, creamy desserts, dense cookies and brownies and oversized bowls of ice cream. No shortage of SweetTooths in this house. But I admit to preferring the palate cleanser, something cool, light and nuanced that rounds out a meal without making me lose consciousness. And as the weather has started to warm up, I’m thinking sorbet is the thing.
When our kumquats were in over the fall and winter, I had a great time making kumquat honey sorbet, and now that strawberries are in season, I’m focusing on them. I try to pick up a few pints a week, sometimes even a half-flat, from one of my favorite Ponchatoula farmers at the Red Stick Farmers Market in Baton Rouge. I know it sounds cliché…I know it does! But when you buy them that close to the source, they are unimaginably good. Like candy.
This is a freezer sorbet. I’m a minimalist when it comes to gadgets, and while I have your basic Rival ice-cream maker (those unsophisticated loud ones that are best used outdoors), I don’t have a countertop sorbet maker. But that’s okay, because all you need to do is partially freeze the sorbet, run it through your blender once more and freeze until hard. The consistency is just fine.
The recipe calls for 2 pints, so it’s a great way to use berries when you can’t eat them fast enough.
Strawberry Sorbet
Serves 6
2 cups water
1 cup sugar*
2 pints (4 cups) strawberries, washed and cored
Juice of 2 limes, about 4 tablespoons
Fresh mint for garnish
First, make a simple syrup by bringing water to boil. Turn off heat, add sugar and whisk vigorously to ensure sugar is thoroughly incorporated. Set aside or place in refrigerator to cool.
Add strawberries to a food processor and pulse until pureed. Scrape into a medium bowl. Stir in simple syrup, which should be room temperature or cool, and lime juice. Pour mixture into an 8×8 glass pan and freeze for 4-5 hours, until mostly firm but not quite set.
Remove the mixture from the pan and place in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and pour back into glass pan. Freeze until firm or leave overnight. When ready to serve, allow sorbet to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes or until soft enough to scoop. Serve with fresh mint and strawberries.
*This amount of sugar makes a sorbet that most folks will find appropriately sweet, but if you like your desserts less so, use 3/4 cup sugar instead.
1 Comment
Thanks for the great recipe, Maggie! I’m not a big gadget person either until I bought a DeLonghi GM6000 Gelato Maker…which I deserve (teehee). You can make pint batches back to back and freeze them in containers for later use. I highly recommend this machine…not cheap, but my family thanks me! Mother’s Day is on it’s way!