“Herb”-ivore Month – A Rosemary by Any Other Name…

August 02 , 2015 by: Amber Trudeau Frozen

I know, I know, you’re “themed” out. All I have to say about that is, that’s a crying shame, but I, unfortunately for you, am not themed out in the slightest, and so, here we are again at the beginning of another culinary adventure! 🙂 This time (in case the title wasn’t a dead giveaway), herbs will be the shining stars, the emeralds that will sparkle in the heart of each dessert if you will. It’s summer (in case you are reading this in a cave and haven’t glommed on to this fact. And if you are reading this in a cave, who’s your internet provider???!! Because they are awesome. Cave reception, the final frontier), and with all the local/ seasonal fruit and herbs and general bounty-of-mother-natureness that’s happening, I just can’t let this slip by without celebrating it in my own small way.

I always want to have fresh herbs available to me. I have this dream of my back garden or kitchen windowsill being filled with an abundance of edible greenery, the like of which the world has never seen! Alas, as anyone who knows my gardening skills (or lack thereof) can attest, I have unintentionally ended up taking on the job of Grim Reaper for plants and all growing things. I don’t remember going to the job interview for this, I strongly feel that others would be better suited to this role (you know, like people who live in the desert where things are already hard to grow, or alternatively, aliens. What with all their interstellar travel, it seems like they’d be great at this on a universal and/or celestial level). However, this is unfortunately nature’s equivalent of joining a gang or the mafia, it’s for life (or death 😉 ). All this preamble was simply to get to my point that I am the kind of person who has to buy their fresh herbs at the grocery store (or farmer’s market) and plan to use said herbs ASAP because otherwise – you guessed it – they will die an untimely death simply due to their proximity to my person.

So that was one decision made, use herbs. Step two was deciding what to make. Due to a myriad of factors, I finally opted to make Lemon-Rosemary sorbet. Reason the first – it has actually been insanely hot out on many a day recently (and that’s me saying that. As Kevin never loses an opportunity to tell people, I’m the kind of person who’s been known to wear a coat in Cuba, and I find the air conditioning at my work so cold that I regularly wear two sweaters and still find the tips of my fingers going numb at the end of the day. So if I’m saying it’s hot out, it must feel to the rest of you like you’re living on the sun 😉 ). Reason the second – I have never made sorbet or ice cream before, so this would give me a chance to do something completely different. And finally, reason the third (aka the embarrassing reason), sheer laziness. Have you ever looked up recipes for sorbet? Mix together ingredients, freeze, consume. That’s practically a dessert that could make itself! (if you happened to have all the ingredients on the counter, and a big earthquake occurred, knocking everything together into a bowl, and then knocking said bowl into your now knocked over freezer. Ok, this all seems highly highly improbable, but it could happen. Maybe.)

Part of the reason I’ve never made ice cream (or vegan ice cream) or sorbet before is mostly due to the fact that I really have no desire to purchase a large unwieldy, one-use appliance. Owning an ice cream maker sounds great in theory, but I just don’t think the tradeoff is worth it. Now if I could get my espresso machine to somehow double as an ice cream maker, that would be the ultimate dream machine. Think of the possibilities! You could make yourself an Americano, and then, instead of cream or whipped cream, you could crank out a dollop of homemade ice cream. Mmmmm….(and I’m speaking from experience here, I’ve been putting a small(ish) scoop of this chocolate salted caramel coconut milk ice cream on my coffee for the past couple of weeks and it is awesome-sauce. Possibly a bad habit to have gotten into, but when you discover the secret to having ice cream for breakfast, you hold on to that secret with both hands, and never let it go. Until you tell everyone you know that is 😉 ).

I know I’m not exactly being super innovative with my lemon-rosemary marriage here, but it just sounded refreshing (plus I’m a super citrus freak). Also, I’ve had lemon and rosemary paired together before and know that I think it’s delicious, so I opted for at least a tried and true flavour. That way, in case I screwed this up and it didn’t work out texturally, at least the flavour would be good (and if it doesn’t freeze properly, you just rename it “Rosemary-Lemonade”, or “Lemon-Rosemary Slushy”. See? Not only is this recipe extremely easy, it’s also extremely forgiving 🙂 ).

Lemon Rosemary Sorbet (No Ice Cream Maker Needed)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cups sugar
  • 4 sprigs rosemary finely chopped
  • juice and zest of 2 lemons
  • 3 tablespoons Lemoncello or Vodka (or lemon vodka) – optional, but alcohol reduces the base freezing point of sorbet, so it will be softer (aka easier to scoop) and less “icy”/ ice crystally.

Directions

1. In a small saucepan on high heat, combine coconut milk, water, sugar and rosemary. Heat until it just starts to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and Lemoncello (or alcohol that you’re using if using). Stir well and allow to come to room temperature.

3. Strain out rosemary. Place contents in a covered container and place in the freezer.

4. Every couple of hours give it a stir.

5. After it’s been in the freezer for about 6 hours (or overnight) and is basically frozen, remove from freezer and add to a blender. Blend on high until smooth.

6. Return to the freezer for another couple of hours to firm up. Enjoy!

 

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About Amber

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Hi, I'm Amber Trudeau.  I bake.... a lot.

I'm also vegan, and found that whenever I went out to a restaurant my dessert choices were limited to sorbet, sorbet, and sorbet.  So I started making my own desserts. I wanted them to taste good though - so my ultimatum was to make delicious desserts that also happen to be dairy-free and egg-free. Every week or so, I challenge myself to try something new.  To recreate some kind of traditional dessert that tastes amazing without using animal products.

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