Strawberry Sorbet
Hi friends. A word on the murder of George Floyd before I get into this week’s post below. I, like many of you, have felt a lot of things. Anger. Sadness. Hopelessness. Restlessness. I’ve been thinking a lot about what my role can or should be as an activist. I really struggled to decide whether to say anything here at all. But, in the end, I decided it would be irresponsible to let another week go by without using this platform in some way, and I think this blog reaches a different audience than my Instagram account, where many of my friends are already posting important resources. I still don’t know what the best way for me to be helpful is, but I do know that this is an issue we will be reckoning with for a long time to come – it isn’t something that will be solved in one push. I also know that I believe in the power of mentorship, education, and stable role models in the lives of all youth. That’s why I’ve decided to start a recurring monthly donation to 100 Black Men. I encourage you to do your own research and decide how to best support communities of color in a way that feels genuine and impactful for you.
This week, with it finally starting to feel like summer, I obviously needed to make some kind of frozen dessert. I’m on a bit of a health kick at the moment, so wasn’t totally in the mood to make a creamy ice cream (very out of character for me). I also kind of wanted some kind of fruit dessert (even more out of character for me).
If your grocery store looks anything like mine right now, there are a LOT of berries. I’ve been buying (and consuming) 2 pound containers of strawberries just because they’re there. That got me thinking that a strawberry sherbert would be pretty tasty.
Now, I wonder if you read that word in the prior sentence and thought it looked fine. We all say sherbert, pronounced with two “r” sounds, right? In my google search for a strawberry sherbert recipe, I had one of those terrible experiences where everything you know to be true turns out to be a lie. It’s spelled “sherbet”. No second r. I couldn’t believe it.
Erik agreed, and and Erik is one of those people that gets lost on Wikipedia for hours at a time because he really just likes to learn things. It’s one of the many things I love about him, especially when he uses this habit to teach me cool things about freezer desserts. Here, he let me know that while sherbet is the more common spelling, sherbert is also acceptable. I will continue to live in a world were I add that extra r, but will keep in mind googling with it might not turn up all of the recipe results I want.
Either way, I ended up with a sorbet recipe looking the most appealing this week. In case you’re curious, the difference between sherbert and sorbet is that sherbert still contains some dairy, while sorbet does not. This sorbet includes an entire lemon, 2 pounds of strawberries, sugar, and just a touch of vodka. You know, to make it scoopable from the freezer.
Start by roughly chopping the lemon and removing the seeds. No, I don’t mean use the juice and zest of a lemon. I mean literally just chop up a lemon.
Add the lemon and the sugar to a food processor and run until smooth.
Transfer to a bowl. Then, put all of the strawberries (hulled) in the food processor and process until smooth.
Whisk the strawberry mixture, as well as the juice of another lemon, into the lemon and sugar mixture. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
Add 1 tablespoon of vodka once the mixture is chilled. This really is about saving you from a frozen chunk of strawberry ice when you go to serve it later. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
I still don’t have a proper ice cream storage container (and would love one, if anyone wanted to send me a birthday present), so I spread this into a loaf pan, pressed parchment paper into the surface, and wrapped in tin foil. I’d freeze for a couple of hours before serving.
But how good does that look? And it was so easy! Definitely going to make its way into my “well I just need something a little sweet” rotation.
Enjoy!
Strawberry Sorbet
Ingredients:
- 1 lemon, seeds removed
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 pounds strawberries, hulled
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon of vodka
Directions:
- Roughly chop the lemon, removing the seeds. Place in a food processor with the sugar and process until smooth. Remove to a large bowl.
- Hull the strawberries and place in food processor. Pulse until puréed.
- Whisk strawberries and juice of 1 lemon into lemon mixture until incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.
- Whisk in 1 tablespoon of vodka.
- Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.
