Yellow sorbet drips off fingertips as sweat drips off foreheads. It is well over 40C in the shade but the beautiful herb Ice Bowl is far from melting. Which means the delicious zesty fruit Sorbet is barely softening at the edges. Polite table manners are thrown to the wind as everyone runs their fingers around their bowls instead of wasting a drop. I love foodie movies, shows and magazines. Half of the allure is the creative food art, while the other half is unique combinations of flavour. Chilli chocolate. Garlic ice-cream. Avo and sweet peppadew pizza. This dish is both. The zesty fruit sorbet is a taste sensation. While the dish itself is a showstopper. A bonus is that the Sorbet is creamy without needing an ice-cream maker!
ZESTY FRUIT SORBET:
1kg Mixed fruit (Mango, pineapple, peaches and berries is amazing!)
1 cup water infused with herbs (I infused lemon verbena)
1/2 cup Maple Syrup or coconut blossom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Prepare the fruit in advance by peeling, cutting and freezing everything. The bowl takes a couple days to construct so plan accordingly. To make the simple syrup; melt your maple syrup in the water. Once cool chill the syrup.
Remember to prepare your Ice Bowl a couple days in advance of making the yummy Sorbet. In a food processor smoothly blend the frozen fruit, salt, lemon and simple syrup. Taste. I add extra lemon for that additional zing. Once you are happy with the consistency and taste scoop the soft Sorbet into your Ice Bowl and freeze. Four hours should be sufficient but I prefer leaving it overnight.
FLORAL HERB ICE-BOWL:
You need two identically shaped bowls (NOT glass) of two different sizes. You also need enough space in your deep freeze to hold the bowls! Pick the herbal flowers in stages over two to three days, as you are layering and freezing the Ice Bowl.
Remember this is creativity and not perfection. The iced walls won't be perfectly even and the flowers may drift. To get started fill water about an inch deep in your large bowl and arrange your flowers.
This week I used pretty purple wild garlic flowers and vibrant yellow Jerusalem artichoke flowers with sprigs of flowering lemon verbena. I like a really thick base so that it doesn't melt or break too soon. Make sure it is stable and straight in the freezer. Then leave overnight to freeze.
On day two, with another batch of herbal flowers pop your smaller bowl into the large bowl. You'll need to put some kind of weight in the small bowl to keep it sitting on the frozen base. To prevent everything from floating to the top, freeze your Ice Bowl in three layers (including the base is four) Pour in a little water and arrange your flowers. Then carefully balance the bowls in the freezer. You will probably need to prop something in between the bowls to keep them equidistant. Remember a heavy weight to keep the smaller bowl sitting on the frozen base. Each layer needs at least 8 hours to freeze. Repeat the process by adding a little water and arranging flowers until your Ice Bowl is complete.
Our gorgeous old lemon tree is at the end of the season while the peaches and apricots are at the start. However, I always have plenty of frozen fruit just in case the need for frozen dessert arises. A handful of frozen berries jazzes the colour and flavour up delightfully.
No churn Sorbet may be slightly harder than Sorbet made in an ice-cream maker. However it is amazingly creamy. Harder is also preferable in our skyrocketing temperatures. Today was an unforgettable and beautiful day for so many reasons. The delicious Sorbet was the pièce de résistance.
