There’s a curious custom in Gascony, a region in the southwest of France known for its full-bodied red wines (its famous neighbor is Bordeaux): When they’ve just about finished their soup, the locals tip a little bit of the red wine from their glass into their soup bowl, mingling the wine with the last few spoonfuls of the broth.
I later discovered that this custom is equally good with a goblet of sorbet when I was scrambling to figure out a way to make this rosy nectarine sorbet a bit more special for an impromptu dinner party. I simply scooped sorbet into my guests wine glasses at the table and let them pour in as little (or as much) red wine as they wished. It was a big success. If you have time to think ahead, prepare a big bowl of sweet, juicy berries and sliced nectarines, and let your guests add some fruit to their sorbet, too.–David Lebovitz
Nectarine Sorbet Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 ripe nectarines (about 2 pounds)
- 2/3 cup water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon kirsch, or 1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions
- 1. Slice the nectarines in half and remove the pits. Cut the unpeeled nectarines into small chunks and cook them with the water in a medium, nonreactive saucepan, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they’re soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add a bit more water if necessary during cooking.
- 2. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Let cool to room temperature. When cool, purée the mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. Stir in the kirsch or lemon juice.
- 3. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according the manufacturer’s instructions.
Variation
- For Peach Sorbet, substitute 7 large, ripe peaches for the nectarines. Remove the skins prior to cutting them into chunks.
Nectarine Sorbet Recipe © 2007 David Lebovitz. Photo © 2007 Lara Hata. All rights reserved.
[Joan Osborne] This was delicious and well-loved by my family. Since the recipe also gives directions for using peaches, and they were much cheaper in our local market than nectarines, I used those. I chose the option of using fresh lemon juice instead of the kirsch, since that’s what I had on hand. So delicious and refreshing for a summer dessert. My peaches did take a little longer to cook than the suggested 10 minutes—they took about 20 minutes to get soft. It does take awhile to completely cool before putting in your ice-cream machine, so you need to plan ahead. Mine took about 3 hours to cool, then after puréeing I poured it into the ice-cream container and placed that in the fridge to chill before placing it in my machine. It took about 45 minutes of churning to get to a nice frozen stage. So worth the wait. I also used the suggestion of serving the sorbet with fresh fruit. I chose raspberries and blueberries, which went perfectly with the peach sorbet.