Refreshing summer stunner of a sorbet!

Regular readers of my blog will realise I’ve fallen a bit behind with posting new recipes – I’m blaming that on the all-consuming day job I was working on! Caroline, this one’s for you : ).

Anyway, this unusual cucumber, white wine and mint sorbet is just the job to serve on at a hot summer’s day BBQ or at a dinner party as a palate cleanser. You’ll never think about cucumber in the same way again. You can make it with white wine or vodka but don’t be tempted to change the quantity as alcohol in an ice will depress the freezing point and you’ll end up with slush not sorbet. It makes about 750ml, double up the ingredients if you want more. Depending on the capacity of your ice cream/sorbet maker (I use a Magimix Le Glacier), you may need to make it in two batches. You can still freeze this but you don’t get the same light texture as you get in a proper sorbet maker – a good basic one isn’t expensive and well worth the investment.

You will need…

• 2 large cucumbers.
• 4 tablespoons of dry white wine or 2 tablespoons of vodka.
• 200g unrefined caster sugar.
• The juice of a lemon.
• A generous handful of fresh mint leaves.

To make…

1. Top, tail and peel the cucumbers. Cut into chunks and put in a blender of food processor with the dry white wine (vodka) and sugar.Blend it thoroughly until smooth.
2. Place a large metal sieve over a large bowl. Pour in the cucumber puree and the lemon juice and leave it to drain. Let it drain natural as you want a clear green fluid. Gently press the residue left in the sieve to extract the maximum amount of juice but don’t press hard or the liquid will go cloudy and taste a little sandy in texture.
3. Rinse the mint leaves (no stalks) and dry them in a clean tea towel, chop them finely and immediately add them to the cucumber liquid. Cover it with cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for an hour or so.
4. Once chilled, pour it into your ice cream maker and churn it. It takes about 20 minutes to get to that sorbet-like texture. Once it’s ready, spoon it out and place in a plastic container until you want to use it.
5. Take it out of the freezer and serve it within the hour or put it in the fridge and allow about 30 minutes to soften sufficiently to serve.
6. It looks great in shot glasses or I have served it in small glass dishes topped with fresh mint leaves or strawberries.