Thursday, August 09, 2007

Watermelon Sorbet




My dad split a watermelon and deposited one half of it in Becky's refrigerator and the other half in mine. It was a peerless melon, perfectly pink, crisp, and juicy, and I ate every slice down to the pale nub. I don't remember the last time I enjoyed a watermelon so much. I couldn't improve on God's work, but I made some sorbet with a portion of it, and it hit the spot on this muggy day. Next time, if I have a melon that tastes as good as this one did, I'll add less sugar, but here's the recipe, adapted a bit from Martha. (I think it's from her, anyway; I copied it down about four years ago, and my memory's foggy.)

3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 cups watermelon, seeds removed

Prepare an ice water bath and set aside. Bring water and sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and trasfer to ice water bath. Puree watermelon in processor or blender and add to chilled liquid. Stir to combine. (I also added a tablespoon or two of lemon juice, to taste, at this point, as I found it too sweet.)

Place all mixtures in an 11x6x2 and 3/4" plastic container and place, covered, in the freezer for one hour. After one hour, break mixture up with a fork. Continue to freeze, stirring every 30 minutes, until sorbet has set and is completely frozen, @ four hours. Will keep up to one week (but who would want to hold off eating it that long?).

I increased all proportions and froze it in a shallow plastic container of unknown size (e.g. I don't feel like getting up to check it...). I put it in the freezer and didn't touch it until the next morning, at which point I blended it in the processor and froze for just a little bit more. The texture was perfectly smooth, and the taste...? Well, it was melony and cold and made me forget, for just one moment, how hot I was. I'd say that's worth the making.

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