c'mon summer: strawberry-lime sorbet

I'm a giant fan of The Perfect Scoop (becoming ever more giant the more ice cream I make, of course) so I usually follow David Lebovitz' recipes exactly as written. But I was making three flavors of ice cream for a party a few weeks back, and I wanted a fruit flavor sorbet... strawberries were on sale... but plain strawberry didn't seem, I don't know, interesting enough. And the book had a recipe for blackberry-lime sorbet. I was inspired.

 

Usually I would put a couple of tablespoons of alcohol in a sorbet -- rum, or vodka, or whatever -- to keep it from freezing too solid. But since the other two ice cream flavors I was making already had alcohol (the Aztec hot chocolate flavor has brandy, and Milk Chocolate-Guinness, well, you know) I held back. And this one did fine without it. Maybe it was all the sugar.

 

My limes weren't fabulous, and didn't yield much liquid, so I used three of them, and added some of the zest as well. The zest was pretty, pretty green to start with, of course, but darkened up considerably as the sorbet froze. If this bothers you... well, consider that you might be excessively picky. It's not all that visible in the finished product anyway.   

Personally, I strained the strawberry seeds out. I like the texture better. Plus, pushing things through sieves makes me feel like Thomas Keller. You can leave the seeds in if you want. In which case, add the zest whenever you damn well please. I added it at the end so it wouldn't get strained out in the sieve.

Strawberry-Lime Sorbet (adapted from The Perfect Scoop)

• 1 lb strawberries

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 3 limes

• pinch of salt

Slice strawberries into a medium bowl. Combine with the sugar and the juice of two limes. Cover with Saran Wrap and leave out for one hour, stirring occasionally if you just can't leave well enough alone, like me.

Puree strawberries with their liquid. Push through sieve. Add zest and juice of third lime. Chill for a couple of hours or overnight, and churn in ice cream maker. Before serving, let rest on counter or in fridge to soften.

If you wanted to make it daiquiri-flavored, couldn't hurt to throw a couple tablespoons of rum in there, either.

Summer in a bowl.

Comments

[Eva]

I would really love the option of making something like this without an ice cream maker. :( Possible? Suggestions? Thanks!