Week 27: Sweet Tart.....Lemon Vanilla Ice Cream w/ Raspberry Sauce

This ice cream is delicious. Its light and creamy, the perfect balance of sweet and tart. The lemon zest really pumped up the lemon flavor. It reminds me of a lemon chiffon. I like the softness of it with the vanilla more than I would if it was a sorbet. I think it would be too tart and too strong to pair well with the raspberry sauce. Berry sauces are so easy to make I don't know why I don't make them more often. They are great to make when you are having company. You can just purchase store made pound or angel food cake and pour over a raspberry or blueberry sauce and dollop with fresh whipped cream. So easy and beautiful. I use frozen berries when I make sauces because they break down just as much as fresh would and tend to be less expensive. Unless you get them at peak season. But frozen berries are picked when they are the freshest too, so you are guaranteed a consistent product that you don't always get when you buy fresh. They each have their place. Sorry for rambling about fruit. This ice cream would be great with in all sorts of combinations.

Here are some I like:
lemon vanilla with blueberry, pomegranate, or strawberry sauce
orange vanilla with chocolate sauce
ginger vanilla with mango, apple or peach sauce
lime vanilla with raspberry or pineapple sauce

The combos are endless!

When I am finished with the recipes from the book, I can explore this more...

The whole fun of cooking is trying new things. Experiment with store bought ice cream if you don't want to go out and buy an ice cream maker. Ice cream is meant to be fun, so play with mixing flavors and have fun with it! Let me know if you make something great!

Week 2: Apricot (well Peach) Raspberry Sorbet a.k.a. New House Sorbet

So entering week two I knew I needed an easier recipe to make. This was a busy weekend and it was nice to have enough time to make it without feeling rushed. Tracy just happened to pick out an easy one. I decided to name it New House Sorbet for her because she just bought a new house and the color of this sorbet matched the highlights in her newly colored hair.

Not thinking it would take long, I went to the grocery store today to buy the ingredients. Very few needed, I mainly went in for the frozen raspberries and the apricot juice (I decided to use nectar). Raspberries, no problem, however finding apricot anything was more difficult. I settled on peach nectar as it was the closest I could find. The result - a tangy but sweet enough sorbet that tasted light and refreshing. It is perfect for summer. Rob compared it to Nerds candy, which it is suprisingly reminiscent of. I like the slightly crnchy texture that the raspberry seeds give it. It is much smoother and significantly less icy than sorbets I've made before. I am interested in seeing how the texture changes once it has had time to harden overnight.

I doubled the recipe this time so there should be plenty to go around. This should be a wonderful Monday afternoon treat.