If you’ve been following the Friday Foto over the course of the last two months or so, you may have noticed that I’ve been on a bit of a sorbet kick, as evidenced by recent recipes for lime sorbet and orange-cranberry sorbet. Well, I’ve been at it again. This time my inspiration was the Sprite soft drink, with its classic blend of lemon and lime flavors.
I have something of a formula when coming up with new sorbet recipes. (You can try this at home to make your own recipes, too!) I typically use 1 – 1 1/2 cups of fresh squeezed fruit juice, 3/4 – 1 cup agave nectar, about 1 cup of water, and in the case of citrus fruits, some zest. When whisked together, the ingredients should total 3 – 3 1/2 cups liquid, which you add to your ice cream maker as per its instructions. This time was no different:
zest of 2 lemons
zest of 1 lime
juice of 3 lemons
juice of 2 limes
1 cup agave nectar
about 1 cup water
In this case, the 3 lemons and 2 limes yielded almost exactly one cup of juice. (I used a citrus reamer and a mesh strainer (to catch the lemon seeds).) Then I add the agave nectar, and finally add enough water to bring the total volume up to 3 cups or so (sometimes a little more). Then it’s into the machine!
The result was delicious, but very strong…almost like a sorbet concentrate. When I make this recipe again (and I will make it again) I’ll decrease the citrus juice by probably 1/3 to bring it into balance. But question remained for what to do with the batch of lemon-lime sorbet that we already had.
Kelli, in her infinite wisdom, suggested we use it make margaritas. Her suggestion was nothing short of brilliant! We combined roughly equal parts sorbet and ice in a blender and blended until we had a smooth “slushy.” (I mixed 2 cups sorbet with 2 trays of ice cubes.) This yielded 4 glasses of “margarita mix.” To finish, add one shot tequila and about 1/3 shot triple sec to each glass, and you’re done! C’est magnifique!
– Pete
That looks really good. I don’t have an ice cream machine but I might have to get one sometime. We make dairy-free coconut ice cream but I make it without an ice cream maker and it comes out really great. Not sure if sorbet would though.
Hi Heather… In the absence of an ice cream maker, you could probably put the sorbet mix into a pre-chilled airtight container with lid and pop it in the freezer. Once it sets up, you could a) microwave it briefly to soften it, b) let it partially melt on the counter, c) use a spoon to make “shaved ice,” or d) once partially softened, blend it to give the sorbet a nice smooth consistency…
Cheers, Pete