Nectarine Sorbet

The farmers' market is overflowing with delicious stone fruit right now: cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines.  I'm experimenting with sorbet and ice cream flavors and the pick of the week is nectarines.  They were perfectly ripe, fragrant and sweet this week.  It has been HOT the past couple days -- in the high 90s-- so a light, refreshing sorbet was the perfect choice.  Ice cream maker or not, you can make this lovely, icy, simple treat for any hot day. 

I recently took the leap of getting an ice cream maker (this is the one I have).  I have not regretted it.  So far fresh lemon sorbet, fresh raspberry chocolate ice cream and milk-chocolate Guinness ice cream have been churned out, warding off the heat.  If you don't have an ice cream maker, I do recommend keeping your eye out for a good deal.  Without a machine you can still make this refreshing, delicious dessert, it will just be more of a granita than a sorbet.*

*See bottom of page for non-ice cream maker instructions.  

This recipe is adapted from the nectarine sorbet recipe in David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.

Ingredients:
6 or 7 ripe nectarines
2/3 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice

Directions:
1. Cut the nectarines into small pieces, removing the pits. 
2. Cook the nectarines with the water over medium heat for about 10 minutes.  They will get mushy.  You can add a little more water if it needed.
3. Take off the heat and stir in the sugar.  Cool to room temperature.
4. Blend mixture until smooth.  Stir in lemon juice.
5. Chill thoroughly (if you want to chill it quickly, place the bowl in an ice-bath in the sink and it will be ready in about 15 minutes).  Once chilled, pour it into the ice cream maker, as your machine indicates,* and process for 25 minutes.  Serve with fresh fruit (blueberries, blackberries and additional pieces of fresh nectarines are delicious!).

cooked nectarines, ready to blend

*For a non-ice-cream-maker treat: follow the directions above but after step #4 pour the blended mixture into a rimmed container (metal or plastic) about 8" x 12" with a 2" rim and freeze it, stirring occasionally (about every 30 minutes) as it freezes (so it doesn't freeze into a big ice cube).  If it does freeze into a cube, melt slightly and try again.  Granita is icier than sorbet, but also delicious and refreshing!