In honor of Kim’s request to “Keep the lemon recipes coming,” I want to share two lemon sorbet recipes I made this past weekend.
Because I was making them for a dinner party in the evening, I got started early. I mixed up the ingredients in the morning and let them chill in the fridge for a couple of hours. When I returned to freeze the sorbets in the late afternoon, I hit a snag: my ice cream freezer was not cold enough for some reason (it is the kind that you freeze ahead of time). I could not get either of the sorbets beyond the slushy stage. Argh!
Luckily, I had several hours before dessert eating would commence, so I packaged up the slush and got it into the freezer. I decided to go old school (i.e. freeze and mix, freeze and mix, repeat, repeat, repeat). A couple of times before we left the house, I stirred the slush. When it was time to leave I dumped all the ice from the freezer into my little cooler, along with two frozen bricks of blue ice, and nestled in the sherbets. Then we puttered across town.
When we arrived at at our friends' home, I whisked the sorbets into the freezer and continued the freeze and mix regimen.
In the end, both sorbets firmed up enough to serve. Even though they weren’t perfectly frozen, they were still tasty. As it turned out, our host had--for some mysterious but fortuitous reason--purchased raspberries that day. They were the perfect finishing touch.
I will surely make both of these recipes again. Rob, who doesn’t much like fruity desserts, ate seconds and thirds. Both versions are bright and light and incredibly easy to make. Especially if you have a good, very cold ice cream freezer…but even if you don’t.
Meyer Lemon Sorbet
--adapted from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Shere
3-5 Meyer lemons
1 cup plus 3 TBS sugar
4 cups water
2 TBS white wine or Champagne (optional)
Zest one lemon. Juice the lemons until you have about ¾ cup lemon juice. Strain the juice into a bowl and add the peel.
Heat the sugar with 1 cup of water until the sugar dissolves. Add the remaining 3 cups of water. Pour the sugar-water into the bowl with the lemon peel and juice. Add wine or champagne if using (this keeps the sherbet from freezing rock hard). Chill completely in the refrigerator (at least 2 hours or overnight). Freeze according the instructions that came with your ice cream maker (or put in a loaf pan or relatively flat Tupperware and put in the freezer for several hours, stirring approximately every hour).
Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Sorbet
--adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
¾ cup light corn syrup
Zest from 3 medium Meyer lemons
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup sugar
Stir all ingredients together making sure the sugar dissolves. Refrigerate the mixture until well chilled (at least 2 hours or overnight). Freeze according to the instructions that came with your ice cream maker (or put in a loaf pan or relatively flat Tupperware and put in the freezer for several hours, stirring approximately every hour).
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