Receta You Betcha! The Perfect Scoop of Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Sorbet
Strangely I am on a chocolate binge. My last post featured a double dose of the stuff with a Chocolate-Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookie. Today I have Chocolate Sorbet. Not just any Chocolate Sorbet, but David Lebovitz' Chocolate Sorbet from his book The Perfect Scoop.
I have to admit this is a revelation to me. And I don't just mean this sorbet either. I mean I learned something about myself.
You see, I am not much a dessert guy. I am particularly not much of a chocolate guy. So even though I was aware of David Lebovitz and his blog, I'd never gone there before. I follow (quietly) his tweets because they usually make me smile. But as I said, I am not much of a dessert guy. So his blog, the books, none of that really appealed to me. Though I acknowledge him as a great cook.
But I was rummaging through a pile of books at a garage sale recently and I came across one his books, The Perfect Scoop. It was splotched with chocolate and a couple of pages were stuck together. So I got the idea that this book had been through its paces. Suddenly I thought about the book I am writing and I thought I'd be honored to see it so well-used and obviously well-loved. That's when I knew David's book did not deserve to be in the 3 books for $5.00 pile. I decided to rescue it.
But the more I rummaged, the more I realized that the book in my hand was the only book published after 1983, and one of the few cookbooks. Now I love retro, but these books weren't retro they were just out-dated. So I took The Perfect Scoop all by itself up to the woman in charge. Now I know I should have offered the woman $1.00 for just the one book. I mean 3 for $5.00 works out to $1.66 a book. So $1.00 seemed like the logical number. But instead I said "I'll give you fifty cents". As soon as I said it I regretted it. It seemed rude. But I was stuck on the $1.00 number and thought if I said fifty cents, she'd counter with a dollar. But she said "sure". Which was crazy good luck for me. But still I felt silly standing there as she tried to find $19.50 as change to the twenty I gave her. Yikes, I have to live in this neighborhood. What's wrong with me?
Anyway my good fortune continued because a few days later I made David Lebovitz' Chocolate Sorbet exactly as written from that book. Holy you know what! This sorbet was a revelation to me. I liked this dessert, and it was chocolate. It tasted like really good dirt. I mean that in a really good way. Because I am talking about the very best dirt, it was so dark and so complex. I swear this sorbet was even creamy. But how was that possible?
- Seriously, this was the perfect scoop of chocolate sorbet. You gotta buy this book. I just hope you get as good a deal as I got! GREG
- 2 1/4 c water
- 1 c sugar
- 3/4 c unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 pn salt
- 6 oz bittersweet finely chopped
- 1/2 t vanilla extract
In a large saucepan, whisk together 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds.
Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it's melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup (180 ml) water. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.