I was watching a comedy yesterday and one of the characters, a complete foodie. kept saying “Sorbet – its just fruit and sugar” and, well Ive always liked sorbet and I had a load of frozen berries defrosted in the fridge so thought it was about time I tried the other paddle in my ice cream machine.

I read loads of recipes – some that used glucose syrup and others a simple syrup made of sugar and water together with the fruit; some using egg whites and others alcohol to stop things turning to ice; and some that sounded more and more like ice cream than sorbet.

As usual I’ve been a little laxidasical with my recipe – and just threw things into the mix hoping for the best and it turned out flabulously…

• I chose not to make a syrup or use water. There was enough flavour rich liquid in the defrosted berries so I used that instead.
• I also didn’t bother dissolving the sugar. I used caster sugar as this seems to dissolve better in any case and added that with lemon juice in and left to steep for 10 minutes before liquidising
• I didn’t bother to strain the fruit – had I bothered I would have had the traditional sumptuously smooth sorbet everyone loves, but I love a little texture so this rough and ready version worked out perfectly for me.

Ingredients

• 600g frozen or fresh cherries and berries (I had morello cherries, blueberries and strawberries)
• 350g caster sugar
• juice of one lemon
• 2 tsp alcohol (I used cointreau for that citrus hit)

Method

• In a large jug or bowl mix the sugar into the defrosted but chilled berries, cherries and their juice and set aside for 10 minutes or as long as you can in the fridge.
• Add in the citrus juice and alcohol and blitz thoroughly with a hand blender (you can use a nutribullet or blender)
• For a smooth finish push everything through a sieve to get out any pips & skin
• Put through a cycle on your ice cream machine (or freeze and stir every hour to break down crystals)
• Once completed put in a freezer tub and freeze for 4 hours minimum then enjoy