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Watermelon Sorbetto

Published August 5, 2008 Dessert , Ice Cream , Italian , Recipe 4 Comments
Tags: food, Recipe, sorbet, watermelon

With the coming of summer, I’ve been tempted by all the various melons at the farmer’s market. It’s hard for me to resist those juicy orbs.

Unfortunately, I have the distinct tendency to bring a newly purchased melon home, put it in the refrigerator, and then promptly forget to eat it. Normally, discovering that I had some form of melon that I didn’t know I had (well, not too long after I bought it), isn’t a bad thing but I still have to figure out what to do with it.

I usually intend to chop it up and take it with me to work for breakfast. My problem is that at night, I’ll tell myself I’ll cut it up in the morning. And in the morning, I don’t feel like cutting it up in my half-awake state and that I’ll cut it up that night for the next day. Rinse, repeat, ad nauseum, and I wind up with the forgotten melon.

I finally had enough of the watermelon accusingly staring me in the face every time I opened the refrigerator and decided to do something about it. Hence, watermelon sorbetto.

This isn’t actually the first time I made a watermelon sorbet. I tried one sometime last year (I don’t remember what recipe I used) but I don’t remember being impressed by it. I think it might have been a texture issue. I find that texture is very important in frozen desserts so I made sure to strain the watermelon purée which made for a very smooth sorbet.

The sorbet ended up tasting more like watermelon than eating the watermelon straight did (which was good as I realized the watermelon was much closer to tasteless than I like). The mini-chocolate chips add a nice contrast to the sorbet as well as looking like seeds. Be aware that the sorbet freezes very hard and needs to be allowed to soften for several minutes before eating (or you may break your spoon).

Watermelon Sorbetto
Adapted from Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments

3 lbs. watermelon, seeded and cubed
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp vodka
2 tbsp mini chocolate chips

Purée the watermelon in a food processor or blender. Run the watermelon purée through a fine mesh strainer. Measure out 3 cups of watermelon juice.
In a small saucepan, heat approximately 1/2 cup of the watermelon juice along with the sugar and salt until the sugar has thoroughly dissolved. Remove from the heat.
Combine the watermelon juice in the saucepan with the other watermelon juice and place in a medium sized bowl. Stir in the lime juice and vodka.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.
Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. During the last minute of freezing, pour in the chocolate chips.
Remove from the ice cream maker’s bowl and place in a container. Place the container in the freezer to finish freezing.
Several minutes before eating, remove from the freezer.

Makes about 1 quart

Caramel Ice Cream

Published July 29, 2008 Dessert , Ice Cream , Recipe 3 Comments
Tags: caramel, food, Ice Cream, Recipe

As long as I’ve known her, Angela has appreciated anything and everything caramel. Given I’ve found it’s in my best interest to keep her happy, I decided to make her some caramel ice cream.

I almost didn’t post this recipe because it didn’t work for me as written. The original recipe had you add the heavy cream to the caramel and that was it. Unfortunately, when I was making this, the caramel solidified in the presence of the heavy cream. Luckily, I realized it would melt again if the heavy cream was heated but I did have to blaze my own trail through the recipe.

I have to admit, however, that it may have been might fault. Given Angela’s preferences, I didn’t caramelize the sugar heavily. I think that the sugar simply wasn’t hot enough in comparison to the heavy cream. So, you may not have my issues and the caramel may stay liquid after you add the heavy cream.

Despite my difficulties, this was definitely worth it. Homemade ice cream always has a taste premium over store bought but I think that caramel emphasizes that difference. It was very rich but very good.

Caramel Ice Cream
Adapted from Room For Dessert : 110 Recipes for Cakes, Custards, Souffles, Tarts, Pies, Cobblers, Sorbets, Sherbets, Ice Creams, Cookies, Candies, and Cordials

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1/4 tsp salt
6 egg yolks

Sprinkle the sugar evenly on the bottom of a heavy sauce pan (perferably non-stick). Add the vanilla bean. Place over medium heat and cook until the sugar caramelizes and begins to smoke, stirring occassionally.
Carefully add the heavy cream (it may boil violently). If the caramel is not dissolved in the heavy cream, heat the heavy cream over medium heat stirring regularly, until the caramel has dissolved.
Whisk in the half-and-half and the salt.
Place the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk together. Slowly whisk in 1/4 of the heavy cream mixture into the egg yolks. Return the egg yolks and heavy cream to the pan.
Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat.
Pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Allow to cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator until cold.
Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions then place in the freezer to complete the freezing process.

Makes about 1 quart.

Black Raspberry Ice Cream

Published May 6, 2008 Dessert , Ice Cream , Recipe 30 Comments
Tags: food, Ice Cream, Recipe

I like ice cream. I like ice cream a lot. And really, who doesn’t? Unlike many of you, my favorite flavor is a little bit more unusual. I don’t prefer chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. No, my favorite is black raspberry. It doesn’t hurt that it also goes well with chocolate (sprinkles or syrup).

There’s one disadvantage to liking black raspberry ice cream so much: it’s only available in the mid-Atlantic states. I have yet to figure out why exactly this is. The same brands that make black raspberry in Maryland don’t sell it in California (I’m looking at you Breyer’s). I couldn’t even find it in Upstate New York when I was in college.

For a long time, black raspberry ice cream was one of those things that I made sure to enjoy when I visited my parents (usually, steamed crabs are one of the others). However, one of our wedding presents was an ice cream maker.

This only solved half of my problem as I had no idea where to buy black raspberries. In fact, I had never seen one. But, perusing the frozen foods aisle at Trader Joe’s, I noticed they sold them frozen! I finally had the last part of the equation.

And then the black raspberries sat in my freezer throughout the winter. Now that the warmer weather has come, I decided to indulge myself.

And I can’t believe I waited this long. After dinner, I’ve taken to eating directly out of the container with a bit of chocolate syrup drizzled on top.

The recipe I adapted from one for raspberry ice cream. It does come out a tad bit sour so it could use more sugar if you like desserts sweeter but that will decrease the prominence of the black raspberries. Served with chocolate syrup it’s pretty good as it is.

Black Raspberry Ice Cream
Adapted from Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments

2 10 oz. bags of frozen black raspberries, defrosted
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice

Run the black raspberries through a food mill fitted with a disc with the smallest holes to create raspberry purée.
Warm the milk and 1 cup heavy cream in a medium saucepan.
Pour the cream into a large bowl with a strainer over top.
In a different bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly temper the warm milk into the egg yolks, then return the milk to the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat until the mixture because thick enough to coat the back of a spatula.
Pour the milk-egg mixture into the bowl of cream via the strainer.
Mix the raspberry purée and lemon juice into the bowl.
Allow to cool and then refrigerate until cold.
Mix in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Makes about 1 quart.