Peaches, nectarines, plum are everywhere right now and they makes me happy to see them. All together so called Stone Fruits - because their seeds are big and hard like stones - are probably my favorite fruits of all. Well... at least I think that around this season. I'm not a huge fun of cooked stone fruits like jams or pies. I much prefer them fresh in smoothies or ice cream.
I grabbed a bunch of assorted kinds of stone fruits and decided to go for making buttermilk sorbet. Sorbet with stone fruits. Not very original but it just makes sense. I have been itching to make it lately. My super talented amazing chef friend Junko Mine who was nominated for James Beard Award earlier this year, gave me a batch of buttermilk and thyme sorbet she made at work a while ago. It was honestly mind blowing good. Amazingly refreshing and so light. It really is a perfect summer dessert.
So I also had a bunch of red and green shiso leaves from my garden. Some of them were dried. I wasn't sure what to do with them. Now there is a little twist to make it more interesting. I got the idea from Junko's thyme sorbet and decided to sprinkle some dried ones in sorbet.
Speaking of shiso, it's a wildly used herb in Japan. It's also called beefsteak plant here in the States. If you don' know why it is or never had any, you are lucky to learn about it now. I always wondered why they aren't spread yet in America but I think it's starting to get popular as I see the starter plants sold at nurseries and grocery stores this year. You might see green ones used as garnish with sashimi at Japanese restaurants. My absolute favorite herb and I can't say enough nice things about it. It's sort of like Japanese basil. Smells wonderful, tastes almost citrusy and tad sweet. Please don't waste and try to eat it next time you see it on your sashimi plate. I used red shiso instead of green because red ones are used more for dessert in Japan. Maybe they have more sweetness than green ones and they also make nice pink color.
My little helper Cassis was anxious to try the sorbet and started to lick the scooper. Cute. Can't blame her. It smelled wonderful and looked so pretty. It's such an exciting dessert to make but super easy as well. Highly recommended to make for parties or with your kids.
Recipe: 10 large scoops
3 cups of buttermilk
3 cups of puréed stone fruits
(3 saturn or any peaches puréed + 3 nectarines puréed + 3 plums puréed)
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1/2 cup of honey or light agave syrup
a pinch of salt
3 large shiso leaves dried and powdered
Bring water to boil in a deep pan. Turn the heat off and put fruits in the hot water and let them sit for a couple of minutes. Drain the hot water and put fruits in a large bowl. After the fruits are cooled down, carefully peel skins off as well as the seeds. Put the skinned and seeded fruits in a blender. Add honey, salt and blend it until it's smooth.
Put the dried shiso leaves and grind them into powder in a grinder.
In a bowl, add buttermilk and cooled puréed fruits together. Mix them well and add powered shiso leaves and lemon zest. Mix it again.
Pour the mixture in any ice cream container of choice, cover and leave it in the freezer.
Serve it with more shiso sprinkled.
* I dried shiso leaves by putting them separately between book pages for a week. Or you can do this with any paper napkins.
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