What’d You Do Last Weekend?
Chicken and Waffles? Yes!
Grapefruit Tarragon Sorbet
I must have driven Chef crazy. He liked symmetry, I did not. His pastries were fit for the buffet at a big downtown hotel, mine were not. But most of all, he preferred classic flavor profiles like chocolate raspberry and cherry almond. I always preferred to look elsewhere for inspiration, generally, in the garden, inside my passport, or at the bar. When I presented my pistachio/grapefruit/Pernod biscotti during our cookie classes, he was particularly vexed. I was charmed.
Grapefruit is a funny fruit. It takes well to some things, but combine it with the wrong and you have a flavor that frowns. Bitter, acidic, and unhappy. That came to mind when I found myself with a bunch of extra tarragon one weekend. It's such a fickle herb, wilting at the first sign of a little heat - but without having a specific recipe in mind for its use, it would go to waste. I knew syrup would preserve that unmistakeable anisey profile, and when I bent down and put my nose to the bowl, that biscotti crept into mind.
We don't cook multi-course meals, so a palate cleanser like this is a little silly, but OH how I wanted to make it anyway. Perhaps one day we'd serve a proper coursed brunch or something and I might need a perfect sorbet. Well, now there's one in our freezer.
Grapefruit Tarragon Sorbet
2+1/2 c freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice
3/4 c Tarragon syrup (recipe follows)
3/4 c water
- Combine the juice, syrup and water to make a total of 4 cups of sorbet base.
- Freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Tarragon Syrup
1+1/2 c water
1 c sugar
1 bunch fresh tarragon (about 8 - 9 stems)
- In a small saucepan, combine the water and sugar.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and stir until all of the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Remove from the heat and add the tarragon to the saucepan.
- Steep the tarragon in the saucepan until completely cooled, about an hour.
