Ready for Dessert (31 page)

Don’t worry about using a fancy sake—inexpensive brands work really well in this recipe. And unless you read Japanese, you’re not likely to be able to ascertain the difference trying to read the labels at the store. (
see photo
)

4 cups (1¼ pounds/600 g) small watermelon chunks, seeded

⅔ cup (130 g) sugar

⅔ cup (160 ml) sake

Freshly squeezed lime juice

In a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender, purée the watermelon chunks with the sugar and sake until smooth. Pour into a medium bowl, taste, and add a few drops of lime juice to adjust the sweetness to your liking. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

VARIATION:
This sorbet makes excellent popsicles that are very refreshing in the summertime. Rather than churning the mixture in an ice cream machine, simply pour it into popsicle molds and freeze.

MAKES ABOUT 3 CUPS (750 ML)

I was asked to do a frozen dessert demonstration on the
Today
show and figured it was going to be my big breakthrough. In my imagination, I would dazzle the media and viewers with my ability to make sorbet without an ice cream machine, catapulting my career into the culinary stratosphere. However, as soon as I pitted the first cherry, the host, Katie Couric, became fixated on my spring-loaded cherry pitter and challenged me to a cherry-pitting duel (I should have realized those who get to the top have a competitive streak). She insisted on using a paperclip, which I knew would put her at a disadvantage. Her method was slower than mine, but being a good guest, I let her win (which explains why I’m not at the top). And because of the nature of live morning television, we barely had time to get to the sorbet. In the end, she went on to make millions of dollars as a celebrity and I went home with my cherry pitter in my suitcase.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether to use a cherry pitter or a paperclip to pit your cherries for this sorbet. But you definitely won’t need an ice cream machine—the food processor is the machine for this frozen dessert.

4 cups (1½ pounds/675 g) sweet cherries, stemmed and pitted

½ cup (100 g) sugar

1 cup (250 ml) water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

A few drops almond extract

1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)

In a large skillet or saucepan, combine the cherries, sugar, water, and lemon juice and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cherries have softened and released their juices, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the almond extract and kirsch, if using. Let cool completely.

Transfer the cherries and their syrup to a shallow container, cover, and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours.

Once the cherry mixture has frozen completely, remove it from the freezer, break it up, and process it in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until completely smooth.

Serve right away.

SERVING:
Serve Amaretti
as an accompaniment. Their almond flavor is a perfect complement to the cherry flavor.

STORAGE:
Once the sorbet is processed, you can return it to the freezer until ready to serve.

MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART (1 LITER)

Many consider the area behind the Gare du Nord in Paris rather dubious. Yes, it’s home to the Paris headquarters for the Hell’s Angels. But lots of amazing ethnic foods can also be found there, for which I’m happy to brave the bikers and travel a bit out of the way.

Of the various cultures that have opened restaurants and grocers in that part of Paris, Indian is the most prominent. At night, the blue neon-illuminated stands of the Indian
épiceries
feature all sorts of odd-looking produce that remain a mystery to me.

But I do know mangoes. During their season in late spring, I head to that neighborhood and buy them by the case. I use them in everything, from tropical fruit salads to mango daiquiris (which I’m sure aren’t as popular with the Hell’s Angels as they are with my crowd). But a few invariably get churned up into a batch of this sorbet, along with a basket of strawberries from my local market and a dash of rum, which even the gruffest biker couldn’t resist.

2½ cups (1 pound/450 g) strawberries, hulled and sliced

2 medium mangoes (1 pound/450 g), peeled, pitted, and diced

⅔ cup (130 g) sugar

1½ tablespoons rum

Freshly squeezed lime juice

In a food processor fitted with a metal blade or in a blender, purée the strawberries and mangoes with the sugar and rum. Pour into a medium bowl and add lime juice to taste. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

SERVING:
This sorbet is particularly good served with berries and tropical fruit tossed with some sugar and a generous amount of dark rum.

MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART (1 LITER)

One late summer weekend, I was visiting a friend who lives in the wilds of Northern California, and I noticed lots of wild blackberry bushes with berries that were so plump and ripe that they were practically falling off the branches. I can never resist free food, so I set out for an afternoon of heavy picking. When I came back, my basket loaded down with fresh berries, my friend casually asked, “Did you see the rattlesnakes?” “Um … no, I … I didn’t,” I replied. Actually, I was really glad to have missed them. That incident didn’t quite scare me away from picking other types of fruits and berries, but I’ll let others risk their lives for blackberries, which I’ve been happy to plunk down money for ever since that day.

8 cups (3 pounds/1.4 kg) blackberries

1 cup (250 ml) water

1 cup (200 g) sugar

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste

2 teaspoons kirsch or vodka, or more to taste

Purée the berries and remove the seeds by passing them through a food mill fitted with a fine disk into a medium bowl. Or, process the berries in a food processor fitted with the metal blade, then, using a rubber spatula, press the purée through a mesh strainer set over a medium bowl.

In a small saucepan, warm the water and sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Stir the sugar syrup into the blackberry purée, then mix in the lemon juice and kirsch or vodka. Taste and adjust the flavoring, adding more lemon juice and kirsch or vodka, if desired. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART (1 LITER)

If you don’t believe the saying that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, this simple yet incredibly good sorbet is proof positive that it can be true. This is my all-time favorite sorbet.

1 cup (200 g) sugar

¾ cup (180 ml) water

1 bottle (750 ml) fruity red wine, such as Merlot, Zinfandel, or Beaujolais

3 cups (15 ounces/400 g) raspberries

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar, water, and red wine to a boil and let boil for 1 minute, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and add the raspberries. Cover and let steep for 1 hour.

To purée the berries and remove the seeds, using a rubber spatula, press the mixture through a mesh strainer set over a medium bowl or pass it through a food mill fitted with a fine disk into a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

VARIATION:
For a lighter-tasting sorbet, use rosé in place of the red wine.

MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART (1 LITER) SORBET; 6 SERVINGS

Up until a few years ago, white peaches and nectarines were an oddity in America and finding them was nearly impossible. Happily, they’ve now become fairly common, and you can spot them in grocery stores and farmers’ markets across the land. Their flavor is not as intense as their yellow counterparts, but their delicacy is part of their appeal. Also appealing is how when white nectarines are cooked with their skins and then puréed, the finished mixture is an ivory hue with a faint touch of rosy pink.

I came up with this dessert when I was the pastry chef at Monsoon, an Asian restaurant run by Bruce Cost, one of the best cooks I’ve ever met in my life. Unlike American dinners, most Asian meals don’t end with a full-on dessert. So my challenge was to create desserts that customers would find appealing enough to order after sharing spicy, authentic, and sometimes challenging fare—like the turtle soup served with raw turtle eggs floating on the surface, or the sea slugs that tasted (slightly) better than they looked. I had to make sure the desserts would bring people back from whatever culinary precipice we took them to. This fruit sorbet, resting in a five-spice cookie cup and served with berries steeped in sweet plum wine, was the perfect landing pad.

SORBET

6 medium white nectarines (1½ pounds/675 g), pitted and sliced

⅔ cup (160 ml) water

¾ cup (150 g) sugar

Freshly squeezed lemon juice or kirsch

COOKIE CUPS

⅓ cup (45 g) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cloves

⅛ teaspoon ground star anise

½ teaspoon ground Szechuan pepper

4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60 g) butter, at room temperature

⅓ cup (65 g) sugar

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

BLACKBERRIES

1½ cups (375 ml) plum wine

2½ cups (12 ounces/340 g) blackberries

2 tablespoons (30 g) sugar

Sliced almonds or sesame seeds, toasted, for garnish

To make the sorbet, in a medium saucepan, combine the nectarine slices and water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the nectarines are soft and tender, about 10 minutes. Add the ¾ cup (150 g) sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

Purée the nectarines with their cooking liquid in a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender. Pour the purée into a medium bowl, taste, and add lemon juice or kirsch to your liking. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

To make the cookie cups, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter 2 baking sheets, dust the baking sheets with flour, and tap off any excess. (You can line the baking sheets with parchment paper instead, but the cookies won’t come off as easily.)

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, star anise, and Szechuan pepper. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a bowl by hand), beat together the butter and ⅓ cup (65 g) sugar on medium speed until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg whites one at a time, then stir in the flour mixture.