Will's Eats: sorbet

It was in August that I made this. You can see how the sliver of cantaloupe is cleverly sliced along the skin and that the vertical cuts made through the flesh; with the pieces pushed in alternating directions. You’ve seen this a hundred times at restaurants. It’s a little bit decorative and very simple. People seem to like it.

The granita (kind of a lumpy sorbet):

1/2 cantaloupe, deseeded
1/4 cup fine/superfine sugar (not a lot)
2 t lime juice (juice of 1 lime)
1/2 t vanilla (liquid)
a pinch of salt (or less) because salt makes things taste sweeter sometimes (yes, it really does)

Blend all the ingredients together; getting some air into the mix won’t hurt (a food processor is fine)
Put into a freezer proof container, shallow makes it happen faster as does using metal or glass rather than plastic
Mush it around with a fork once in a while (1/2 hour) and scrape the sides of the container
Continue until there is no liquid left and you like the texture (3 or 4 hours probably but plan on it taking longer – just in case; it could be a little as 1 hour. If it is happening fast, check and stir more often)
It will be fairly granular (see picture)

Done

Easy as can be - and done without the requisite ice cream machine either. I'm not big on buying new electric toys to do just one dish. Years ago, in The Netherlands, I learned to make ice-cream and sorbet without one and that knowledge, today, has saved me $69.

Here's what I did:

Ananas Givré : Pineapple Sorbet

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 pineapple
2 1/2 C sugar syrup (almost equal parts water and sugar; slightly more sugar than water - I'll explain later)
vanilla extract
an egg white

Procedure

Put a (metal) bowl in the freezer
Make a simple sugar syrup (1 1/4 C each of water and of sugar plus another 1/4 C of sugar)
- use low heat to dissolve the sugar
- higher heat to bring to a boil
- boil gently for 2 minutes
- set aside to cool
hollow out the pineapple, saving the "meat"
- freeze the shell of the pineapple for doing a fancy serving later
purée the fruit-meat part very thoroughly - as smooth as you can get it; or smoother
Whisk the egg white in the cold bowl - just getting it fluffy; not making egg whites
Add the fruit, sugar syrup and vanilla extract and whisk it all together to mix
Stuff it in the freezer
Pull it out and whisk it again every 45 minutes
- Do that about 4 or 5 times; until it's a solid self-supporting foam and the liquid's all gone (frozen)
Freeze a couple of hours more (at least - longer's okay too)
Scoop it into the frozen pineapple shell to serve (fancy)

Done

Notes

Some recommend poaching the pineapple fruit before puréeing it because "certain" enzymes in pineapple inhibit the freezing process needed to make a sorbet. Seems odd.
I didn't poach anything. It froze up just fine.
Some add the beaten egg white after the thing really starts to freeze up. It's supposed to make it fluffier. I didn't do that either.
This mix more than fills the empty pineapple - twice over.