21.8.2023
Melon & Fig Leaf Sorbet
Before summer melts away try Kitty's take on a heady and refreshing classic with a twist.
On the one hand this recipe is so over the top it’s almost unnecessary since a slice of ripe, cold melon in the summer is as good as perfection. Perfection can be boring though, and this ice is not.. This is heady, and so dizzyingly fragrant it can summon august memories of heat bouncing off a Marseillaise pavement with one lick. It’s so easy to make there’s nothing to it.
280g Granulated sugar
480g Water
4 or 5 Fig leaves
2 Lemons
1 (Ripe please) Charentais or Honey Moon melon (Melone Rettato)
1. Heat sugar and water in a small pan, stir until the syrup is clear and bring it to a simmer.
2. Slice the fig leaves into a tagliatelle and submerge these in the hot syrup. Cover the pan and allow to cool, then refrigerate for an hour or two until cold (you can chill the syrup overnight if you want to do this step in advance).
3. Skin the melon and slice the whole fruit into a blender, catching the juice. Squeeze two lemons, adding the juice (and the zest too if you like) it doesn’t matter about pips. Strain the fig leaf syrup through a sieve over the top, scrunch the leaves to extract as much flavour as possible.
4. Liquidise until perfectly smooth, then pour the mix through a fine sieve and transfer to an ice cream machine to churn for 20 minutes or so.
5. Hard-freeze for a couple of hours before serving so that it scoops better.
Kitty Travers
After stints training at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York and working as a pastry chef at St. John Restaurant in London, in 2006 Kitty Travers founded La Grotta Ices. All handmade from her workshop in south London, Kitty's iced-delights fuse the classics with bold experimental flavours including Roast Chestnut Cremolata, Tomato and White Peach and Kumquat Custard. In 2018 she released her eponymous book, featuring 75 of her most favoured ice cream, sorbet and granita recipes.
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