This picture reminds me of a Cooks Illustrated cover. I think it’s the blurry lemons in the background. My husband takes great photos of the food I cook.
I love all things lemon and I love simple recipes. You can get no more simple and lemony than this sorbet. It has four ingredients, lemon juice, water, sugar and a tiny bit of vodka. The vodka is used to keep the sorbet from freezing like an ice cube. Since alcohol doesn’t freeze, the sorbet maintains a softer, smoother consistency.
This sorbet has an intense flavor and can be used as a palate cleanser between courses of a big meal. I have one tip when making this – start by adding half a cup of sugar and taste the mixture. Keep adding sugar until you have the sweetness that you want. Don’t make the mistake of adding all of the sugar at once, because you can’t remove it once it’s added. When I made this, I strained the pulp out of the lemon juice. Sometimes I leave pulp in, but this time I decided to strain it, which resulted in a nice smooth sorbet. You can also add some fine lemon zest for a lemony zing and for some texture.
Meyer Lemon Sorbet1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice (~ 3-4 lemons)
1 teaspoon vodka (or up to a Tablespoon, to taste)In a small saucepan on medium high heat, make a simple syrup by heating sugar and water until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Stir in the lemon juice and vodka. Chill, either in the refrigerator, or by placing in a metal bowl over an ice bath.
Once the mixture has thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place sorbet in an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve. The sorbet will always be slightly soft because of the alcohol.
Yield: ~2 1/2 cups of sorbet