Wednesday 27 June 2012

Mango and Passionfruit Sorbet


Well, if the sunshine can't come from the sky, it'll just have to come from my food instead! I have been meaning to join in Kavey's Bloggers Scream for Ice cream challenge since she started it up. I have an ice cream maker that is sadly underused. It can produce fabulous ice creams but it doesn't often get the chance because I find it a bit of a fiddle having to clean everything very thoroughly before I start and then again when I finish too. This slight obsession comes from reading one of my ice cream books that emphasises very strongly the importance of keeping everything sparkling clean whilst making ice cream. Update: this seems to be me just being neurotic - Kavey has kindly commented that she does no such thing with her ice cream maker and since she makes much more than me I bow to superior knowledge! Please don't be put off making ice cream - it's fun and delicious! So I rather lazily don't bother very often. Which is why participating in Kavey's challenge is such a good idea for me!

So after reading the amazing round ups from previous months (for example March, April and May) I was determined that I would participate too. The theme for this month is Fruit, which gives a pretty wide choice! I had a look through my ice cream books (I have The Ice Cream Machine Book and Lola's Ice Creams and Sundaes) and as ever wondered why I don't make ice cream more often - there are some seriously delicious sounding recipes in both of them.



I decided to use Lola's Ice Creams and Sundaes this time round. It's a really lovely book to read - there's an introduction to the author and how she started making ice creams after buying a 1970s Mr Frosty Bedford van off eBay for £500! I wish I had the courage to do random things like that! There is a really interesting chapter on the composition of an ice cream and its components and how they all interact. The next chapter is on flavours and then a chapter on the principles of making ice cream, followed by sorbet, sherbet and granita. All very interesting reading. And then onto the recipes which are divided into:
Classics
Speedy Ices (for those who can't be bothered with custard - that'll be me then!)
Fruit (perfect for this month's challenge)
Vegetables (yes, you did read that correctly - we're still talking about ice cream!)
Nuts, herbs and spices
Celebration and dinner party
and finally, Sundaes
Then there is a brief chapter on Equipment and a final chapter of Questions and Answers - very helpful for troubleshooting if something goes wrong.

Mmm, starting to melt
For a quick idea of some of the amazing recipes in this book, here are a few that I'd really like to try:
- fresh mint ice cream with chocolate brownies
- dark chocolate, apricot and stem ginger ice cream
- seville orange marmalade ice cream
- sweet potato sorbet
- cosmopolitan sorbet
- pear sorbet, poached pears and chocolate sauce
but so many more besides!

The perfect size of container!
In the end I didn't quite follow the recipe I chose exactly. I decided to make mango and passionfruit sorbet, but didn't quite have the correct quantities of the ingredients. I had one large mango (weighing about 600g before peeling and stoning) and four very wrinkly passionfruit to use up. I made up a stock syrup as instructed and allowed it to cool and then chopped up my mango as best I could. I didn't weigh it after chopping but I guess there was probably about 400g or so. I seemed to lose quite a lot of flesh to the skin and stone. The amount of passionfruit pulp was also specified in the recipe but I just used the passionfruits I had - probably not quite as much as there should have been. When the stock syrup was cold, I blitzed the mango and passionfruit juice together to a smooth puree and added stock syrup (again the recipe gives exact quantities, but for mine I used 170g stock syrup) I then churned until smooth and nearly frozen. This took quite a long time, about 30 minutes. The sorbet was then decanted into a very practical (but not very photogenic) lock and lock container and returned to the freezer to harden up.

Practical but dull..... apologies!
The photography in the book is lovely - and the shot of this particular recipe shows the sorbet in a vintage metal container with a long scoop taken out and some lovely halved passion fruit by the side. The reality in my kitchen is that the sorbet is stored in a lock and lock container which is more practical, and the passionfruit were used to make the sorbet rather than being photographed by its side. Hmm, practical rather than photogenic. My apologies!

I am the first to admit that I am not a mango connoisseur - I know that many people say that Alphonso or Keitt mangos are the best for flavour and texture in the UK, I'm afraid mine was just a standard supermarket mango. However, it was still delicious - more mango flavour than passionfruit - next time I will up the passionfruit component. But for one of my rare attempts at an iced dessert this was very successful - smooth, refreshing and fruity. I think having the ice cream machine definitely made it smoother, but ice cream can be made by hand too. Sunshine in a glass for when the sun in the sky isn't co-operating! I will have to resolve to enter Kavey's challenge more often.



8 comments:

Kavey said...

Welcome to BSFIC!

Firstly, I am one of those who loves alphonso or kesar or other Pakistani honey mango varieties and don't bother with the fat round green/red varieties. BUT making sorbet or salsa with them is a great way of boosting the flavour with other ingredients and making them sing!

Secondly, I don't know anything about needing to keep an ice cream machine scrupulously cream - I've only heard that for making meringues in a clean bowl. Ours gets washed up after use, and then used straight from the cupboard, perhaps a quick wipe with a dry square of kitchen towel if it looks dusty, otherwise not.

Phil in the Kitchen said...

Mango and passionfruit is such a great combination. Delicious stuff. You've got me worried that I haven't cleaned my ice cream maker thoroughly enough.

Unknown said...

I love mango in ice cream... it works really well and it has that lovely tart/sweet thing going on!... I too don't over-clean my ice-cream maker... just the once after using and then into the cupboard!... I must say that since Kavey started her challenge we've eaten more ice cream than ever before and I love having it in the house for that little bowl of sweetness after a meal!

Dipika @ The Very Hungry Baker said...

This looks lovely! Your best bet for mangoes is your local Asian cash and carry/grocer. Mango season is in full swing in India/Pakistan at the moment, and the imported mangoes we're getting at the moment are the best you'll ever taste. Be quick, though, think we only have a few more weeks of them before the monsoon puts an end to the fun! :o)

Katie said...

Wow it looks stunning. I loev the flavour combo and its looks so smooth and colourful. I've not tried making sorbet before, but could certainly do with a large scoopful at the moment - its hot!

Johanna GGG said...

it sounds very summery - I am not so keen on mango but I still associate it with summer - and I just love passionfruit

celia said...

Oh, this post screams summer! It's so cold over here (to us, it wouldn't be to the English!), but I'd happily eat a bowl of this sorbet regardless! :)

Caroline said...

Kavey - thank you for the lovely welcome! Glad to hear I don't need to be so OCD with my icecream machine. I must get round to trying other kinds of mangos. I always forget to look when I go shopping.

Phil - see Kavey's comments! It's a great combo.

Dom - Icecream is a perfect sweet treat end to the meal. I can see more of it round here too!

Dipika - thank you for the tips about mangos. Looks like I'll have to hurry to get the best ones.

Katie - thank you. I wish it were hotter again!

Johanna - yes, very summery, I just wish we had the weather to go with it.

Celia - thank you! I wish we were having a summer here - the weather has been utterly rubbish.

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