Thursday, July 24, 2008

TWO VERY DIFFERENT SUMMER SORBETTOS

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 Chocolate-Orange Sorbetto ready to be scooped out of my new Cuisinart ice cream maker and ready to enjoy!

  UPDATE: The Chocolate-Orange Sorbetto recipe is in my newest book, World Vegan Feast.

I'm so glad I got my new ice cream maker in the summer! I can make delicious frozen treats-- low-fat ones, too-- for company and for just ourselves. The other day I made two very different sorbettos. A sorbetto is the Italian way of saying sorbet, a frozen dessert that is usually fairly intense in flavor and creamy in texture, but containing no dairy products, or even dairy substitutes. They could be called a "water ices", but that sounds so dull! Nothing dull about these treats!

I added Instant Clear Jel (which I talk about in this post) to ensure a creamy texture and no rock-hard freezing. But you can leave it out, if necessary.



Printable Recipe
BRYANNA'S GREEN TEA AND KIWI SORBETTO


Servings: 8
Yield: 1 quart


A friend gave us some large kiwis, but DH isn't fond of them, so I thought I'd make a sorbetto with them, using green tea as the liquid. This is a variation of a recipe that's going around the internet, so obviously, I wasn't the only one with this idea!

3 cups water
2 1/2 tablespoons your favorite green tea leaves
3/4 cup organic unbleached sugar
8 large kiwifruit, sliced in half lengthwise
zest of one organic lime
1 teaspoon Instant Clear Jel OR 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum

OPTIONAL: Green tea doesn't necessarily make a green brew, so
if your mixture looks kind of "blah" or brown add a few drops of green food coloring or green food color paste (For natural brands see Cooking Tips below.

PS: Here is an article about making your own natural food colorings.)

Directions
Bring water not quite to the boiling point in a small non-aluminum saucepan . Remove from the heat and stir in the tea leaves.

Cover and steep the tea for 5 minutes. Strain the leave off (discard) and pour tea back into the saucepan. Add the sugar. Over medium heat, stir until the sugar is dissolved. Raise the heat to high and simmer about 5 minutes, or until the tea becomes syrupy. Stir in the lime zest. Set aside in the refrigerator until it comes to room temperature.

Now you need to scoop the kiwi out of it's skin. Hold one half of a kiwi in the palm of one hand, and, using a grapefruit spoon, scoop out all the green kiwifruit. If the white membrane in the center is tough, discard it. Repeat with the rest of the kiwifruit.

Place the scooped-out kiwi fruit and cooled tea syrup into a blender or food processor, along with the Instant Clear Jel, and puree it until very smooth.
If the color is not pleasant, add some of the food coloring (be careful not to add too much!).

Prepare your ice cream maker and add the mixture. Freeze according the the directions that go with your machine. Scoop the mixture into a container and freeze until firm.

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per 1/2 cup serving):
128.1 calories; 2% calories from fat; 0.4g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 6.3mg sodium; 302.5mg potassium; 32.3g carbohydrates; 3.1g fiber; 18.7g sugar; 29.2g net carbs; 0.9g protein; 2.0 points.


Cooking Tips
NATURAL FOOD COLORINGS (available online):

Here is an article about Chefmaster Food Dyes, which the author says are"All Natural Vegetable Food Dyes for the Allergy Sufferer, Earth-Conscious, or Chemically Sensitive".  I haven't verified this, but they are available from amazon.com

Another brand is India Tree, also available from amazon, but you have to mix your own colors from 3 basics.


Enjoy!



7 comments:

julie hasson said...

Absolutely lovely Bryanna!

Anonymous said...

wow, both flavours look absolutely amazing!

Anardana said...

Thanks again for the great recipes! I have the same ice cream maker, it rules.

aTxVegn said...

Both of these sorbets look so delicious! I can't wait to make them.

Laura said...

Thanks for your green tea ice cream sorbet. It was really good especially during the hot days. I think you might also be interested in trying out the Frozen Blueberry-Tofu Sorbet, it taste really delicious and healthy and there is also the VEGAN version of the sorbet which is really good for people who are trying to go vegan.

Laura said...

The link for the recipe of the Frozen Blueberry-Tofu Sorbet is: http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes/dessertsagoodies/frozen-blueberry-tofu-sorbet

Gerac said...

Thanks!