The Musette: Olive oil sorbet

• 200g (1 cup) raw cane sugar
• 240ml (1 cup) filtered water
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 10 fresh basil leaves, gently bruised
• 1 organic egg white
• 3 tbsp fresh organic lemon juice
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
• 60ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil

To serve

• couple fresh basil leaves
• 250g (2 cups) freshly chopped strawberries
• 2 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar 

Method

1. Combine the sugar, water, salt and basil in a small sauce pan and place over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally to help dissolve the sugar. Simmer gently for 2 minutes.

2. Using a slotted spoon, remove the basil from the simple syrup and discard. Whisk the egg white in a medium bowl until frothy, but not stiff. Whisk the hot syrup into the beaten egg white.

3. Now whisk in the lemon juice, zest and olive oil. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir occasionally for 5 minutes or until just warm to the touch. Refrigerate until completely chilled, stirring occasionally. It generally takes about 2 hours.

4. To freeze the sorbet, use a hand held blender or whisk to emulsify the base mixture. When the base looks creamy and smooth, pour it directly into an ice cream maker to freeze.

5. When the mixture is the thickness of a thick milk shake, put it into an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve. Do not over process or the mixture will separate.

6.  To serve, scoop the sorbet into a martini glass or similarly sized glass bowl, sprinkle with the berries and drizzle with the balsamic.

Sheree’s Handy Hints

1. If you don’t have an ice cream/sorbet maker, pour the whipped mixture into a shallow glass dish that you can place into your freezer evenly for about two hours.

2. At this point the mixture will have started to freeze all around the edges while the middle part is still quite mushy. This is when you take out your trusty fork to break up all the frozen bits into small pieces and mix it all around so that the cold is distributed evenly.

3. The mashed mix goes into the freezer again but this time for 30 minutes. The mixture will start to get more solid overall but again run your fork through it as thoroughly as possible and even it out before you pop it back in for another round of cooling. Make sure you don’t have chunks peeking out, they will freeze ahead and turn into solid blocks of ice.

4. Continue with step two every 30 minutes for another three times. Even though the mixture has spent so much time in the freezer, it should still be malleable. Now put the  the sorbet into the freezer for one last hour, mush and mix, and either serve it or transfer it into a freezer-friendly container until you’re ready to serve.