Sunday, July 23, 2006

guess who got an ice cream maker?

...and just in time, because it's freakin' hot! there will be more many more ice cream posts from the little bird to come in the near future, but here's the tasty frozen treat that i made for a summer sunday afternoon: cantaloupe sorbet.

cantaloupe sorbet

we got our bi-weekly installment from the tierra miguel csa on wednesday and there was a lovely cantaloupe in our share. i cracked it open this morning for breakfast and it was the juiciest cantaloupe i have ever seen. and the taste was so amazingly sweet. all that juice gave me the idea to make a sorbet. here's the recipe that i cobbled together (experimenting from the recipe for the margarita granita that i made on saturday):

1 c. simple syrup (equal parts sugar & water, briefly boiled, then cooled)
1/2 c. cantaloupe juice
1/2 c. pureed cantaloupe
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vodka

freeze in an ice cream maker and then remove to the freezer for a few hours.

the final product looks creamy like sherbet, but i assure you it there is no milk (the cantaloupe itself was a very light color). the end result was chilly, melon-y goodness, sweet but balanced by the acid in the lemon juice, and a perfect scorching afternoon treat. the official taste tester tried his obligatory spoonful and promptly demanded several more spoonfuls.

only after i was recovering from the brain freeze did i realize that cantaloupe is an anti-oxidant rich food and that i had a perfect entry for sweetnicks' a.r.f./5-a-day tuesday. do be sure to check out her site on tuesday for the roundup of everyone's yummy and good-for-you a.r.f. treats!

11 comments:

Susan in Italy said...

Wow, when I had an ice-cream maker, canteloupe was my favorite flavor of sorbet but it never occured to me to add vodka, I'll bet it's great!

barb said...

dang that does looks tasty.....should I be putting in my orders for when I come to visit?

wheresmymind said...

Is your ice cream maker super loud? I remember getting one for my Mom (when I was young) that was really loud.

maltese parakeet said...

susan - the vodka increases the freezing temperature so that you get a nice consistency after keeping it in the freezer and not a cantaloupe ice-cube! you can't really taste it. but vodka sorbet does sound kind of yummy, now that i think about it!

doodles - you'll definitely get some when you're here!

wmm - it's not overly loud, as the motor is housed inside the unit. that being said, it's not a really heavy duty ice cream maker and is really better suited for pints rather than quarts.

Annie said...

I love cantalope, I love ice cream and sorbet and this sound too good.

Crystal said...

Oh, I could use some ice cream today(hot & sticky). This post is getting me in the mood to dust off the old ice cream maker and give it another whirl. Looks and sounds great!

Ryan

Deborah Eley De Bono said...

Anything with coconut for me, please.

G said...

oooh. that sounds really good. I have a maker but have not really pulled it down all summer.

maltese parakeet said...

i'm sure i'll get sick of it soon, but right now the ice cream maker is my favorite appliance...in my kitchen. get those ice cream makers dusted off and churning away, ryan & gabriella. no excuses!

sylvie1950 said...

I started to buy an ice cream maker this past Saturday. Sur La Tab had these pretty pink Cuisinart machines. The only reason I hesitated was because I would have to eat all the tasty treats I made. Oh well, forget about the calories, I'll have to see about picking up one this weekend.

Deborah Eley De Bono said...

sylvie, don't forget to share your successes here with us.