the coolest winter dessert

Cool as an iceblock in a cold bath


It's peculiar how cold weather like this makes me want to produce many cold dishes when in fact I should be eating food that is going to warm me up, not chill me to the bone! Although this dish is not something that you should be eating gallons of when the weather is below - on the thermometer, it is still a terribly easy companion to the end of a tasty (and hot!)meal. The temptation may be to sit obediently next to the freezer waiting for the stuff to harden sufficiently so that you can take it out and stuff it down your throat, however it will probably take quite a while for the mixture to become stiff and so it maybe useful to do something else (like pretending to clean the kitchen) while you are waiting. My friends I give you... the most cooling treat of the summer (in the winter)... The strawberry sorbet.


This dessert is great because you hardly need any ingredients at all!

750g strawberries washed (and pull the storks off too!)
175 ml water
175g sugar
60 ml fresh lemon juice




Stick the sugar and the water into a pan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved and then bring the pan to boil, then immediately afterwards take off the heat and set aside so it can cool down. At the same time you need to be very clever and multi-task a bit! Add the strawberries to a food processor and the lemon juice and process until its nice and smooth like....well... a smoothie!


Add 250ml of the syrup to the fruit puree then have a taste. If it tastes really tart then you'll need to put more syrup in and mix it all together! Pour the mixture into a non metallic freezer-proof dish then cover with a lid and pop into the freezer. Freeze it for a bit until the sorbet is almost firm (it should still be a bit like liquid though). Cut the sorbet into some nice slabs and put them into a blender. Process until smooth and then repeat the process of putting the sorbet back into the freezer until it is nearly firm. Once again go crazy and chop your sorbet into pieces (which cleverly gets rid of all the lumps of ice and makes its ultra- smooth) and then put back into the processor. Put it in the freezer for the very last time and freeze completely. Then to serve take the sorbet out and leave for about 5 minutes. Finally the moment you've been waiting for, tuck in! Or if you absolutely must, wait for your guests to appear and serve in little dessert glassses with a nice sprig of mint on top (they'd better hurry though!)