lemon sorbet with prosecco

I recently had a lovely meal in Mulberry’s Restaurant in Barna. It has been named the 'Best Casual Dining Restaurant' in Connacht at the Irish Restaurant Awards. This category recognises the dining experience which best offers outstanding value, fantastic food, great service and hospitality, and an excellent overall experience. Mulberry's was all of that and more. You can read the full details in my article in The Galway Advertiser which will be out on Thursday 19th July.  Photos of the rest of the lovely food I sampled in Mulberry's can be seen after the recipe below.

In the meantime It reminded me of how a well made lemon sorbet is genuinely the easiest and most refreshing thing in the world, this is the lemon sorbet recipe I use. Always taste before you freeze and spend a little time tweaking the balance of lemon and sugar.

Sorbets should be smooth, an ice-cream maker is a great way to take care of the churning side of things. If you don't have one it is still possible to make it, but it might be better to make a granita which should be beaten at regular intervals during the freezing process in order to develop a crystalline texture.

Lemon sorbet with prosecco

Serves 6-8
350g caster sugar
14 lemons, unwaxed

Put 250g sugar into a pan with 250ml boiling water and heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to bubble for a couple of minutes until slightly thickened, then set aside and allow to cool completely. Zest five of the lemons and finely chop the resulting peel. Juice all the lemons and strain to remove any pulp and stray pips. Add the chopped peel and stir in the rest of the sugar to dissolve. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Add equal amounts of syrup and cold water, a bit at a time, and taste, until the flavour is to your liking, it should be quite intense as this will mellow slightly when chilled. Put in an ice cream maker and churn. Alternatively pour into a strong plastic box and put in the coldest part of the freezer. After 1 hour 30 minutes it should have frozen round the edges – take it out and beat vigorously with a fork, electric whisk or in a food processor until you have a uniformly textured icy slush. Put back in the freezer and repeat at least twice more every hour and a half, then freeze for at another hour or more.

Transfer the sorbet to the fridge for 20 minutes before serving. Put a little scoop in a margarita glass or similar and serve. Or do as they did in Mulberry's and pour over a small measure of prosecco, set some perfect summer berries and a few pomegranate seeds afloat on top with a sprig of mint or a leaf of lemon verbena - less is more here, don't crowd it.

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