No-No Fourchettes Strawberry Sorbet

Submitted by evelynathens

"OK, put away your fourchettes, you'll want to savour this delicious sorbet using a spoon! Fragrant, seasonal strawberries frozen with that quintessential Italian liqueur - Sambucca! And, just in case you didn't know you were in Italy, the Fighting Fourchettes have added a sprinkling of sweet and pungent green basil throughout to make this sorbet the most visually spectacular and palate-pleasing of the Tour! As an aside, anyone on a low-fat diet will LOVE the very, very low count. :-)"

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 4 cups (approximately)
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 2 pints fresh strawberries (or 24 ounces frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed)
• 1 1⁄4 cups simple syrup (recipe follows)
• 3 tablespoons sambuca romana
• 2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1⁄4 cup finely minced fresh basil (NOT DRY)

• For Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

• Garnish (optional)

• basil sprig
• lemon peel, curls
• sambuca romana

directions

1. Purée the strawberries with 1/4 cup of the simple sugar syrup in a food processor until smooth. Stir in the remaining syrup, Sambucca, lemon juice and minced basil; transfer to an ice-cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.
2. To make Simple Syrup: Place sugar and water in a small saucepan; bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently until the sugar has dissolved, about 3-4 minutes. Cool to room temperature. The syrup can be used immediately or stored in a covered container until needed.
3. To serve: Scoop out prettily into stemmed cocktail glasses and tuck in a sprig of basil to one side, and a curl of lemon peel on the other. If you like, you could add a splash of sambucca over top.

Reviews

[mliss29]

This was really great! I left out the sambuca and actually forgot the lemon juice too. My basil plants are about 1 inch tall, so I left that out too. (okay, this is getting silly!) And I didn't put all the sugar in! (Is it the same recipe???) So, it was great, but I thought I'd better try to get close to the intentions of e/a or the FFs. Made a little serving and added a little lemon juice and some dried basil. Couldn't taste the lemon, but thought the dried basil was not a very good idea. lol. But near the end of eating it, the basil had softened up and gave an interesting flavor to the sorbet. As to prep, my food processor is dinky so I did about 24 oz. frozen berries in two batches and ended up using about 3/8 cup syrup per batch to get the processor to blend well. Mixed the batches in a container with another 1/4 cup syrup. I loved it this way, but I think following directions exactly would make it a 6 or more star recipe. Thanks for the terrific treat! And the knowledge! I think I could use this with frozen peaches, mangoes, blueberries. Mmmmm! The possibilities! Oh! And a 5-star name too!!! Reviewed for ZWT4.

 

[Slatts]

My husband is in love with this sorbet. We left out the alcohol. The sorbet froze up quickly in the ice cream machine.

 

[Gerry]

A lovely Strawberry dessert- light and lush. Looks fantastic in long stemmed glasses! Only had a few fresh basil leaves - and made without an ice cream maker - firming mine up in the freezer as well. The Fighting Fourchettes thank you - it's a great dessert!

 

[Susie D]

I used frozen berries and had to leave out the basil. This was easy to make & very tasty on a hot summer night. I didn't add the additional sambuca romana. Made for ZWT4.

 

[Chef Kate]

What better dessert on a hot humid night than a soothing strawberry sorbet with flecks of fresh basil and a lovely undercurrent of Sambucca. Served in martini glasses garnished with basil and accompanied by tiny cups of espresso with lemon and more Sambucca for those who wanted it. Very pretty, very delicious.