Pluot Lambic Sorbet

I've heard great things about Jeni's sour beer sorbets, but I never thought I'd make it myself if only because I didn't ever think I would come into possession of any lambic beer.  But then my roommate decided to break out her growler of Night Shift Brewing's Art #5, which happens to be an "experimental Berliner Weisse style sour ale aged on fresh raspberries [with] mint leaves added."  After one sip I realized it would be perfect for a sorbet!

For the fruit I used a couple of pluots from a recent Boston Organics delivery, but you can use any stone fruit:  peaches, apricots, cherries, etc.

Pluot Lambic Sorbet (adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home)
makes a generous quart

1 pound pluots
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup lambic beer, chilled

Remove the stones from the pluots and puree in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Combine the pureed fruit, sugar, and corn syrup in a 3-quart saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Remove from the heat immediately and put in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.

Strain through a sieve into a bowl.  Add the beer and chill thoroughly.

Pour the sorbet base into the frozen canister and spin just until it is the consistency of very softly whipped cream.

Pack the sorbet into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid.  Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

I was really surprised at how much I liked this sorbet considering I'm not a big fan of beer.  The sweetness and sourness were perfectly balanced, and there was a nice malty finish to each bite.  Oh Jeni, once again you have made a believer out of me.

Next:  Bahian Style Moqueca (Brazilian Fish Stew)
Previously:  Apple Cider Donuts
One year ago:  Magical Cold Brew Coffee

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Cranberry Royale Sorbet

Last week I got to go on a Cranberry Farm Picking Experience with Colonial Lantern Tours.  I've gone apple picking and strawberry picking before, but this was the first time I've ever gone cranberry picking.  No, we didn't get to put on those rubber overalls and wade in a cranberry bog, but we did get to see how a flooded cranberry bog is harvested and also how cranberries are dry harvested.  Lastly, we got to hand pick our own cranberries!  Fun fact:  only 10% of cranberries are dry harvested, and only the dry harvested cranberries will be sold fresh in stores.  The other 90% are wet harvested and will go into cranberry products like cranberry sauce and cranberry juice.

 
Even before I went on the tour, I started looking up cranberry recipes to try.  The ones that caught my eye were a bittersweet cranberry brownie and a pecan topped cranberry cake.  Then my friend Ellen suggested that I make Jeni's Cranberry Royale Sorbet.  And boy, am I glad she did. 

Cranberry Royale Sorbet from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
makes about 1 quart

2 grapefruits (you need enough to get 3/4 cup of juice; I needed 1 1/2 large grapefruits)
One 12-ounce bag cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups sugar

 
Using a vegetable peeler, remove 3 large strips of zest from 1 of the grapefruits. Halve the grapefruits and squeeze 3/4 cup juice.

 

Combine the grapefruit juice, zest, cranberries, water, corn syrup, and sugar in a 4-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil just until the cranberries begin to pop open, about 5 minutes. (My cranberries started to pop before it was anywhere close to boiling, so I just put a splatter screen on top of the saucepan and continued to heat the pan.) Remove from the heat and let cool.

 

Remove the grapefruit zest. If desired, puree the cranberry mixtures in batches, or leave unpureed for a chunkier sorbet.

 

Chill the mixtue and then freeze in an ice cream maker. Spin just until the consistency of very softly whipped cream.

 

Pack the sorbet into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

  

On the following page in her book, there's a gorgeous picture of an Oslo Ambrosia sundae, which consists of a meringue topped with raspberry lingonberry sauce, a scoop of the Cranberry Royale, and topped with cardamon scented whipped cream.  I just knew I had to try to make this sundae, if only because it looked so pretty.  Instead of making a raspberry lingonberry sauce, though, I just saved a few tablespoons of the sorbet base before it was frozen and added a spoonful of raspberry preserves.

 

I also used coconut whipped cream instead of dairy whipped cream and should be posting that recipe soon.  (Edited to add:  here's the post!)

 

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Coconut Lime Sorbet

Every once in a while I'll scan Craigslist to see if anyone's selling an ice cream maker with its own compressor. They're usually several hundred dollars, so it's something that would be nice to have, but definitely not necessary, especially since I have such a reliable Cuisinart ICE-20. But a couple of weeks ago, I found one being sold for only $80. I was a little suspicious so I asked the seller why he was selling it, and he said that he was getting married, and his wife-to-be wanted him to get rid of stuff. Well, I was more than happy to help him out. It was a nice surprise when he included four ice cream sundae glasses, an ice cream scoop, and two ice cream recipe books with it as well!

The ice cream maker in question is a Lello 4070 Gelato Junior, and I love it! No more needing to pre-freeze the canister; I don't even need to chill the ice cream base before starting up the machine! The only thing I miss about my Cuisinart is that I can't really get any good pictures of the ice cream as it's churning....

One recipe I really wanted to try out in my new ice cream maker was this one for coconut lime sorbet. It's definitely one of my all-time favorite ice creams to make, and even won the ice cream thrown down I participated in a couple of years ago. But it doesn't always freeze well. There's definitely been a couple of times when the Cuisinart canister started melting before the sorbet was done churning. So I knew that it would be a good way to test how well the Lello ice cream maker worked.

Coconut Lime Sorbet (from epicurious)
makes about 1 pint

15-ounce can cream of coconut (preferably Coco Lopez)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lime juice

In a bowl whisk together ingredients. Freeze mixture in an ice-cream maker. Transfer sorbet to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

I love the fact that there are only three ingredients for this sorbet; two, if you don't count the water. Also, you don't need to heat or chill the base before freezing. In fact, you shouldn't chill the base because then the coconut fat would solidify out of the mixture. What I think is kind of interesting is that it does harden when you're churning it, but since it's dissipated throughout the sorbet, it almost forms chips of coconut fat, adding a little bit of texture. I think it's almost a misnomer to label this treat a sorbet because, even though it doesn't contain any dairy, it's so super rich! The sweetness from the cream of coconut and the tartness from the fresh lime juice is also really intense.

I've used bottled lime juice before in a pinch when I didn't have any fresh limes, and it tasted just as good. I would definitely NOT substitute coconut milk for the cream of coconut, though. Cream of coconut is a lot sweeter and fattier than coconut milk; if you use coconut milk instead it just won't have the right amount of sweetness or texture. Trust me on this one. One last thing, just as this sorbet doesn't freeze well, it also melts rather quickly, so make sure you take it out only right before you want to serve it.

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Red Wine and Pear Sorbet

I made this a while ago before this blog was born and really liked it so when my stash of pears from Boston Organics started building up, I thought it was high time to make this again. The original recipe from Martha Stewart has directions for how to make this without an ice cream maker, but seeing as how I have one, it seemed silly not to use it.

Red Wine and Pear Sorbet (adapted from Everyday Food)
makes about 1 quart

1 cup dry red wine

3/4 cup sugar

1 pound ripe pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces (2 cups)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Coarse salt

In a medium saucepan, bring wine, 1 1/4 cups water, and sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves. Add pears; reduce heat, and simmer until tender.

Stir in lemon juice and a pinch of salt; cool completely. Transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender to puree the mixture. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Once chilled, churn in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a container, cover, and freeze overnight or for several hours to harden.

Although the original recipe said it would only take 5-10 minutes, I ended up having to cook the pears for over 20 minutes before they were tender. This may have been because I used one Bartlett pear and one green pear instead of just Bartlett pears like the original recipe said. Because I was cooking the mixture for that long, I figured I would have boiled off most of the alcohol, but there was still enough left to make this a pretty soft sorbet. It's also kind of gritty in the way that pears are naturally gritty. Not a bad thing, but if you don't like the texture of pears, you might want to pass on this recipe. But if you like poached pears, you definitely need to try this out. It tastes elegant and sophisticated, like something that should be served in a goblet vs. a normal dessert bowl. I would totally serve this as a palate cleanser or at the end of a heavy dinner of say, steak.

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Fresh Orange Sorbet

I had 4 oranges (2 from a previous delivery) and 1 lemon from Boston Organics that I wanted to use up, so I googled "orange lemon sorbet" and found this recipe for fresh orange sorbet from Cooking Light. The recipe said that I'd need about 10 medium-size oranges and 2 medium-size lemons, but I found that the 4 oranges made enough juice for half the recipe. I also added a splash of citrus vodka to the mixture right before adding it to the ice cream maker to keep it from being too icy.

Fresh Orange Sorbet (from Cooking Light)
makes about 6 cups

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
Orange rind strips from 2 oranges
2 2/3 cups fresh orange juice
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Splash of citrus vodka (optional)

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan, and bring mixture to a boil. Add orange rind strips; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Remove and discard orange rind strips. Remove liquid from heat, and let cool to room temperature. Stir in orange juice and lemon juice. Chill in refrigerator until completely cool.

Right before churning, add the splash of citrus vodka. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Serve immediately.

When I was churning the sorbet, I noticed these icy globules forming which made me concerned that there might be globs of ice in the sorbet surrounded by sticky orange syrup (similar to what happens when you freeze orange juice), but the texture of the sorbet ended up being pretty uniform.

I did neglect to read the instructions to the end and ended up freezing the sorbet overnight instead of serving it immediately. Despite the addition of the alcohol to lower the freezing temperature, the sorbet did get quite hard and icy so that the texture was more like a granita. It was still quite refreshing, however, and I found the combination of the flavor and texture strangely addictive. I love how it tastes like fresh-squeezed orange juice even days after it was made. And the fact that it was ice cold made it all the more perfect as a summer dessert or palate cleanser.

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Mango Lime Sorbet

When I got back from SF, I found a package in my room and couldn't remember what I had ordered. Then I realized it was the box of mangoes I won from Our Best Bites. I had no idea how long they'd been sitting in my warm, stuffy room, but so unfortunately a couple of them were in the mushy stage by the time I opened up the box. But the rest were perfectly soft-ripe. Since I was leaving on another weekly long trip, I decided I better try to use most of them up and looked on-line for a recipe for mango sorbet. I came across Elise's recipe for lime mango sorbet and decided to try that, only I used coconut rum instead of tequila, and I prefer to call it mango lime sorbet because it rolls off the tongue easier.

Mango Lime Sorbet (based on Elise's recipe here)
makes almost 1 quart

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Zest from one lime
3 ripe mangos (about 2 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup lime juice
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons coconut rum

Heat the sugar, water, and lime zest in a medium saucepan until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Cut the flesh from the mangoes.

Put the mango pieces, sugar water, lime juice, and salt into a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pour into a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until completely chilled.

When ready to put the chilled lime mango purée into your ice cream maker, mix in the rum. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the ice cream maker directions. Transfer mixture to a plastic storage container and freeze in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.

The rum is added to keep the sorbet from getting too icy, but I think it may have done it's job a little too well because even after freezing overnight, the sorbet was a little too soft for my preference. Next time I'll probably reduce the amount of rum to 2 tablespoons. Next time, I'd probably also strain the lime zest out of the simple syrup before blending with the mango flesh. I didn't like how some of the zest accumulated one the ice cream maker blades, ending up with a bolus of lime zest which was rather bitter to the taste. Otherwise, I really liked how this sorbet wasn't too sweet and was just perfect for a really hot day, like I hear Boston is today.

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