Raspberry Sorbet

 

I can't remember whether I mentioned it, and I'm inclined to say that perhaps I didn't, but last year I was given a brand spankin' new Kenwood mixer for my 30th birthday by some super-duper-awesome-wonderful people in my life. I admit I was torn between getting a shiny Kitchen Aid, preferably in Rasberry Ice, or a Kenwood. But I grew up on Kenwood mixers, and this puppy has a massive 1500W of power versus the insipid 300W of a Kitchenaid. No contest.

 

So although this is beautiful, this is what I ended up with. Which is also beautiful, but in a different way. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get quite a bit of pleasure out of polishing it yesterday! #whyimsingle

From Kenwoodworld.com. To purchase visit "shop" at top of page

Not only does it have a 1500W motor but it also has a mixing bowl that is 2L bigger than does the Kitchenaid, so in theory I can now make quadruple batches of pavlova in one bowl without it exploding. And, oh, the batches of cake I could make! And the cream I could whip! I have such lofty ambitions :)

 

Anyway, for Christmas, my parents (independently, because they're divorced) gave me cash to put towards attachments for the Kenwood. I had enough for two attachments which are actually quite decent value for money. For example, the Kenwood stand-alone food processor is worth about $400, but the food processor attchment for the mixer was about $130. I guess the theory is that once you have the machine, the money you save on the attachments is about equal to the money (and space) you would save on all the other kitchen gadgetes. 

 

So I counted my little wad of cash and ordered the ice cream maker and a food processor attachments, and they arrived last week. And on the weekend, I used both to make raspberry sorbet, and it was amaaaaazing. You know, presuming you love raspberries just as much as I do! It was more tart than sweet, and made around four servings of two scoops each. I imagine next time I may consider straining the seeds out, but not for sure. I'm probably too lazy to bother, truth be told ;)

 

First, I used the food processor to puree the raspberries.

 

And then I used the ice cream maker to make the sorbet (duh). With this particular unit you put the ice cream maker insert in the freezer for 24 hours before you want to make the ice cream, so it requires a little forward planning, but honestly, if you can't predict that you're going to want ice cream then you're a moron. You could probably just keep it in the freezer all the time, and because it's a bowl you can put your frozen peas in the middle and you won't be losing a whole lot of space in your freezer to it. 

 

Sorry there's not a good shot of it (there are sure to be many more opportunities to take a picture of me making ice cream!), but imagine a plastic-on-the-outside, metal-on-the-inside bowl with a flat bottom and straight sides that sits within your mixer bowl. The cavity between the plastic bit and the metal bit contains what I assume is the same fluid you get in those plastic freezer bricks you put in your esky (as we call it. For those playing in New Zulund an esky is also known as a chully bun (=chilly bin), and for everyone else in the world I think it's known as a cooler or possibly an ice box). The ice cream maker has a clear polycarbonate lid, and that white plastic bit you can see in the middle has a shaft that goes down to the bottom, then splits into two paddles. The two paddles make their way in opposite directions to the side of the bowl where they make a 90 degree turn and move up the sides of the bowl. You can juuust see the top of one of the paddles poking out on the left of the bowl, at about the five-minutes-past-nine position.

 

INGREDIENTS:

350g of fresh or frozen raspberries, pureed

3/8c castor sugar (that's half of 3/4, if you're having trouble picturing it)

1/2c water

1/8c lime juice

 

Dissolve sugar in water in saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Once dissolved, bring it to the boil and boil for one minute. Set aside to cool.

 

Once cooled, mix through pureed rapberries. Add lime juice and mix (I had left the raspberries in the food processor and added both the sugar syrup and lime juice and turned it on quickly to mix them through).

 

Put in ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. In this case, the brief is to assemble the (pre-frozen) bowl, make sure it all lines up, then turn it on low and THEN pour the mix in. If you do it the other way around it will freeze to the side of the bowl and you will have problems!

 

In my case, it took half an hour for it to become a scoop-able but slightly wet sorbet. Being impatient, I was fine with that. The instructions say most things take half an hour, but to leave it going for up to 45 minutes if it's a little soft, and then if it's still not hard enough then you scoop it out and put it in the freezer. I know that the half of the batch we didn't eat on the first night hardened significantly in the freezer, so I had to let it sit on the bench for a while (the fridge might have been smarter) before scooping it out.

 

Easy peasy! I have to say, I was a little turned off ice cream making by my sort-of-disasterous vanilla ice cream, but I think I'm back in the game. And sorbet is a good place to start because there's no mucking around with eggs making a custard first.

 

What an excellent Christmas present. I look forward to many more interesting ice creams and sorbets! (I have my eye on a honey-walnut ice cream. Mmm...)