Thai Sorbet

For the last few weeks, I've been getting a lot of Thai basil from my CSA. Loving Thai food, and basil generally, this has not proven to be a problem for me. However, this bounty has also had me considering some less conventional ways to use this basil, too!

Since I like sorbets, and the weather has been ridiculously hot, it seemed like the right experiment to try. I thought basil alone might be a little bland, so sought out some lemongrass too. Little did I know that finding it would be so difficult! I've seen it in my local grocery store a number of times, but now that I was looking for it...well, it just wasn't there! I finally went to a Whole Foods, where I bought the last lemongrass they had. Maybe there's a run on it, or a worldwide shortage, and I just didn't know!

I took to the basil and lemongrass, slicing and chopping a little, crushing some others, and generally trying to get both the tender basil leaves and the hardy lemongrass stalks to open up to release their flavors.

I put all the basil and lemongrass into a saucepan with about two cups of water and put it on to boil, then reduced it to simmer. This part is like making tea, and allowing it to steep! Once it had boiled and then simmered for about 10 minutes, I added a bit of sugar. I didn't want it to be so sweet as to overpower the subtle lemongrass and basil, but it did need some sugar to help it become something other than tea-colored ice cubes! (Nerdy science fact: adding sugar to water turns it into a different substance, obviously, but it also lowers the freezing point, which is why you get a soft freeze that you can eat with a spoon, instead of a block of ice.)

I simmered for another 10 minutes, then let the entire mixture cool, steeping the entire time. When it had cooled, I strained the mixture, added in a couple small, whole basil leaves, and put it in a container in the fridge. The best part about sorbets is this natural stopping point - I do not have to freeze it that night!

The next night, I pulled out the mixture, which is a little sweet, and very fragrant with herbal notes. I poured it into my trust ice cream freezer, and let it whir. Because it has a little less sugar, it took a little less time to freeze up, but I let it continue to spin to achieve a creamy consistency.

I can admit that I am biased in favor of my own cooking, but this truly was lovely - flavorful but restrained, cool and creamy, and just plain good!

CSA Bounty

So it's taken me a while to post again, but never fear, more is coming soon...with pictures of such yummy treats as my Sunday morning scramble, my new sorbet (in a very lovely flavor!) and some other things I've been eating. Stay tuned for pictures soon!

Hot Spearmint Summer Treats

Last week's CSA came with some spearmint, and I thought perhaps I would try a sorbet. It's a traditional Mexican summer treat and palate cleanser, so recipes are readily available on the internet. That said, I don't use recipes all the time, so I simply measured out my spearmint leaves, which were drying a bit by now, and added three times the water. I brought the mixture to a boil to let the spearmint leaves steep.

Steeping spearmint leaves.

After boiling for about five minutes, I took the mixture off the heat and added some sugar, about half as much as the water, and stirred vigorously to dissolve. At this point, the mixture was infusing the kitchen with the refreshing smell of spearmint. I sat the pan aside to let it cool.

Adding the sugar.

Once cool, I whizzed the mixture with my immersion blender to further break up the spearmint leaves and release those flavorful oils into the syrup. I poured a bit of the mixture, with the spearmint leaves, into the freezing canister of my ice cream maker, and then strained the rest of the spearmint leaves. I wanted a few green flecks for color and contrast, but not all the leaves.

After running through my ice cream maker for about 20 minutes, the sorbet was light and creamy. I quickly scooped myself a serving, and put the rest into a container for another night. I can't wait to have more on a hot, humid night - a perfect treat for a summer night!

The cool, refreshing sorbet - it's beautiful, and it's amazingly refreshing!