When life hands you lemons

photo by TEP

I think M has a direct connection to the kitchen gods . Shortly writing a  blog post that I had not had success with making ice cream I received an envelope in the mail from M. Inside was wonderful New York Times article about homemade ice cream. The article included several ice cream recipes. A note from M was attached encouraging me to try making ice cream again using one of the recipes. At the time the place was in disarray because I was preparing to move. The ice cream maker had already been packed away. 
The ice cream maker and the article survived the move. I read the article. I stared at the ice cream maker.  I put the article and ice cream  maker away and continued unpacking. What was I thinking? There were dishes to unpack, shelves to line and wine bottles to put away.


photo by TEP

I purchased a bag of lemons from the nearby supermarket within every intention of using the lemons in my morning juice concoction, to boost a couple of cleaning products, and make lemondrop candy. Several days passed and I returned to the lemons - there seemed to be more lemons in the bag than I initially remembered. In addition to the lemon drops perhaps I should make lemon sorbet or lemon ice cream? I pulled out my Joy of Cooking cookbook .The recipe for lemon sherbet caught my eye. The recipe looked simple enough: lemon juice, milk or cream, and sugar. The sherbet could be prepared by freezing or by using a churn method (ice cream maker).
When the water began to boil the scent of lemon filled the place. Combining the ingredients was easy and the recipe stated that if the mixture should curdle that it would not impact the taste or texture of the end product. Mecy mixture didn't curdle. I thought I read that mixture has to be stirred every  30 minutes until frozen. I moved the mixture to a small  ice filled cooler. After 90 minutes I checked the recipe to see what I missed - the sherbet was not freezing as I hoped. I re-read the recipe as well as the preceding pages, There was no mention of stirring every 30 minutes. I knew I read it somewhere, but at this point I just wanted to salvage the sherbet.

photo by TEP

I moved the mixture from the small cooler into the freezer section of the refrigerator. I left it overnight and made myself not return to the freezer to check on my project's progress.

The following morning I walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer. I pulled out the container. It felt solidly frozen. I removed the lid. The mixture was frozen! I grabbed a spoon for a taste test. Smooth, creamy, just a hint of lemon. Sher- bet!

Grinning, I placed the container back in the freezer.  I made sherbet! Perhaps in the future I could make orange, pineapple, wine, or champagne sherbet.  For  the time being I  would enjoy telling myself , "When life hands you lemons, make lemon sherbet".  The next time I will use  my ice cream maker.

What's your favorite sherbet flavor?
 
Be well,

Technicolor girl

photo by TEP