adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
We are just loving all of your great entries in our ice cream flavor contest. Peep sauce? Fig, nectarine, and bleu cheese ice cream with a balsamic ripple? Cajeta and banana?
You guys are such a creative bunch! And our wheels are turning.
We tried our own flavor combo this week, creating this Beet and Blackberry Sorbet using the method from Jeni (we like to think we're on a first name basis now).
So let's round out our Ice Cream Week with a sorbet.
First, why beets? Well, a couple weeks ago we were at the farmers market. The farmer at one of our favorite stands was standing there with a knife and a beet in hand, shaving off thin slices and handing them out. The beets were a variety known as Detroit beets (which, oddly, did not mean they had the voice of Clint Eastwood). We sampled a slice and it was great -- crisp, delicious and super sweet.
So we impulse-bought some beets and they went into the crisper. After we started reading and using Jeni's book, we wanted to play around with our own flavors. First, we made the Roasted Pineapple and Sage Ice Cream. Then we decided to push the envelope a bit more, and we reached for the beets.
We also had some blackberries left over from our Blackberry Cream Layer Cake, so we decided to use those, too. We made a blackberry ripple using Jeni's recipe for fruit sauces from the back of the book. Her recipe keeps the sauces from freezing fully and turning icy in the finished product (like we had experienced with our Pineapple and Sage ice cream. Lesson learned!).
So how does this sorbet taste? In a word, beety.
If you don't like beets, you won't like this sorbet. If you do, you'll love it. The beets' dark, earthy sweetness gets a nice complement from the sweet-tart blackberry ripple. It's definitely a niche taste, but we loved trying it. And we can't wait to experiment with more flavors.
Purchase a copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
Makes 1 generous quart
2 large beets
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons water
1 serving Blackberry Sauce (recipe below)
Using a paring knife, cut the tops and bottoms from the beets. Place them in a large microwave-safe bowl with 1/4 cup water. Cover with a plate or cling wrap. Microwave for 15 to 20 minutes, until beets are easily pierced with the tip of a knife. Let beets cool slightly. Remove skins. Puree in a food processor until smooth. If you have trouble processing the beets, add a small amount of water to the food processor bowl. Once pureed, strain the beets through a fine mesh sieve.
Combine the sugar, corn syrup and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the sugar has dissolved, transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and allow it to cool.
Combine the beet puree with the sugar syrup. Chill thoroughly.
Pour the sorbet base into the frozen canister and spin just until the consistency of very softly whipped cream.
Place several tablespoons of the blackberry sauce in the bottom of the container in which you will store the sorbet. Add half the sorbet, add more blackberry sauce, then more sorbet. Press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.
Blackberry Sauce
Purchase a copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
Makes roughly 3/4 cup
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
Combine the blackberries and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue boiling, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 220 degrees F (5 to 8 minutes). Let cool slightly, then force through a sieve to remove the seeds. Refrigerate until cold before using.
